With just more than two minutes left in No. 1 Boston College men’s hockey’s matchup against Vermont, the Eagles were looking to put the Catamounts away and secure the series sweep, while Vermont was trying to knot the game up as time was running out.
Fortunately for BC, Will Smith put the game away for the Eagles single-handedly. Smith forced a Vermont turnover in its defending zone, rearranged himself to shoot, and fired the puck into the back of the net to extend BC’s lead to two goals to ice the game with 2:06 left in regulation.
“Smitty, to be able to get that insurance goal was enormous at the end,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Having a two-goal lead when the other team’s gonna pull their goalie definitely gives you a little bit of cushion.”
The Eagles (25–5–1, 17–3–1 Hockey East) held off Vermont (12–15–3, 6–11–3) in the waning minutes of the third period and completed the sweep of Vermont to earn their sixth straight win.
Despite missing its leading point scorer entering the game, Gabe Perreault—who recently hit the 50-point mark on the season—and its captain Eamon Powell, BC still downed Vermont in Conte Forum on Saturday night.
“Hopefully, okay,” Brown said of Perreault and Powell. “They’re not season-ending things. Hopefully they’ll both be back next week, if not very soon after that. They just weren’t fit enough to go tonight … Initial reports are that they’re not long term.”
BC switched up its lines for its tilt against the Catamounts as a result of Perreault’s absence. The No. 5 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Cutter Gauthier, skated alongside the No. 4 and No. 8 picks in the 2023 NHL Draft in Smith and Ryan Leonard. The line tallied all four goals for the Eagles and totaled a combined eight points.
“A lot of good things,” Brown said of what he saw from Gauthier, Smith, and Leonard. “Especially right at the beginning of the game, they were flying together, that was really good. They’re three very good hockey players, and they read each other well, so they had pretty good instant chemistry.”
The game got off to a less than ideal start for the Eagles when Leonard was sent to the penalty box just 25 seconds into the game for diving. Vermont made quick work of the No. 1-ranked penalty kill in the country, putting the Eagles in a one-goal hole just 10 seconds after its advantage started.
But the Catamounts could only contain the high-powered Eagles’ offense for so long, and BC took advantage of a sloppy Vermont turnover just over five minutes later. Leonard knocked the puck off Luca Münzenberger’s stick and Gauthier corralled it before sending it back to Leonard, who deked out Catamounts’ goaltender Gabe Carriere and tied the game at 1–1.
Leonard struck again later in the first period to hand the Eagles the lead with 8:28 to play. On the rush, Leonard received a cross-ice pass from Gauthier and skated toward Carriere before sending a backhand shot on net. Carriere rejected Leonard with his blocker, but Leonard found the rebound and shoved another backhand shot toward the net that ricocheted off Carriere and into the back of the net to give BC a 2–1 lead.
The Eagles had an opportunity to make it a two-goal game late in the period with a 5-on-3 opportunity and a 5-on-4 chance, but failed to extend their lead heading into the second frame.
BC had a total of six power-play opportunities, but converted on none of them throughout the night.
“Their penalty kill was excellent,” Brown said. “They stayed tight and together and then when you take two out of your five guys on the powerplay didn’t play tonight, so the chemistry just wasn’t there. Puck wasn’t moving as fast as it usually can. Full credit to their penalty kill, but also, we didn’t keep the tempo that we’re used to keeping on the power play, that’s why you have to find other ways to win.”
Vermont notched the tying goal 2:55 into the third period when Ryan Miotto beat Jacob Fowler to make it a 2–2 game, but the game didn’t stay tied for long.
The Eagles regained the lead just over a minute later when Gauthier tallied his 29th goal of the season. Leonard forced a Catamount turnover while Vermont was on the power play, and dished the puck to Gauthier who slapped a one-timer home to make it 3–2 BC. Then, Smith’s solo goal put the game out of reach.
“You want to have confidence, kind of coming toward the postseason,” Brown said. “So I think we played a lot of good hockey of late, haven’t had any major areas that we have to improve. We just have to be sharp in all facets.”
