The last time that No. 4 Boston College men’s hockey scored a power-play goal was on Nov. 8 at home against Maine. That goal from Andre Gasseau represented the beginning of a huge momentum shift in that game, as it was the first of a three-goal comeback against the Black Bears.
On Friday, the Eagles cashed in again on the man advantage in a huge spot. Mike Posma, who does not often get power-play time, fired home a loose puck right in front of the net to give his team its first lead of the game with 6:06 left in the contest.
“He did a nice job in limited minutes last year, but we know he’s hard,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “He gets to the front of the net. He’s good on faceoffs, so we felt like it was time to try Mike, and to see him rewarded like that is great. He was great in front.”
BC (10–3–0, 4–2–0 Hockey East) defeated No. 15 Dartmouth (5–1–1, 4–0–1 ECAC) 5–3 on Friday night thanks to Posma’s power-play goal, two goals from James Hagens, and two empty-netters.
“It was a hard-fought win against a very good team,” Brown said. “And we were excited with the way we played in the third to be able to capitalize and pull out the win.“
After the Eagles mishandled the puck in their zone right before the first intermission, Dartmouth’s Braiden Dorfman found Steven Townley in the slot right in front of BC goaltender Jacob Fowler, and the Big Green captain buried the puck to give Dartmouth a 1–0 lead with 44 seconds left in the first period.
The goal was the culmination of a first period during which Dartmouth took it to the Eagles in their own house. Both teams tallied 12 total shots, but the Big Green held the edge in quality scoring opportunities.
Brown was trying everything to break through and get his team on the board in the second, including switching up the line combinations in his top six.
It paid off, as a line of Gabe Perreault, Teddy Stiga, and Hagens found the back of the net when Stiga found Hagens open across the slot and Hagens found the top shelf, evening the game up at one goal apiece with 8:12 left in the second.
“I think when we did switch up the lines, Stiga and Gabe and James had some nice chemistry there,” Brown said. “They scored the first shift they were together right away, and then they had a strong rest of the game. So that was nice, I feel like our energy picked up a bit.”
The Eagles’ lead was short-lived, however, as Sean Chisholm was able to win a puck battle against Lukas Gustafsson, which he converted into a scoring chance by dishing it to Cooper Flinton, who beat Fowler at the back door to retake Dartmouth’s lead with 3:46 left in the second frame.
Hagens scored his second goal of the game on a spinning pirouette-like behind-the-back pass from Perreault, tying the game up again with 15:12 remaining.
“It’s kind of just being in the right spots at the right times,” Hagens said. “You know, when you have a guy out there like Gabe and Teddy it makes your life easy.”
BC persisted, taking the lead off of Posma’s goal with 6:06 left in the game and holding onto that lead permanently.
After an ill-timed boarding penalty from fifth-year captain Eamon Powell left BC short-handed with 3:24 left, Dartmouth pulled Clarke out of his net for a 6-on-4 opportunity.
Stiga was able to find the empty net with 2:08 left in the frame, though, which turned out to be crucial. Although Dartmouth didn’t score during the power play, it was able to get a goal just five seconds after it expired and with 1:19 left in the game.
Tense moments followed, but Gasseau protected BC’s one-goal lead with a second empty-netter with 20 seconds remaining, putting the bow on top of a non-conference win for the Eagles.
“It’s great to have tests,” Brown said. “We’ve had [what] has to be as tough a non-conference schedule as anybody’s so to have to sharpen your game and realize where you can improve and also what is really working well for you several times in the first half of the year is great. I feel like we’ve learned a lot.”
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