The last time Boston College men’s hockey went undefeated against Boston University in a season was the 2013–14 season. With a risk of falling to 0–3 against the Eagles this season, the Terriers weren’t going to let Friday night’s matchup slip away as quickly as their Jan. 30 and Beanpot final matchups.

No. 10 BC (19–11–1, 13–8–0 Hockey East) had no answer for BU’s (15–15–2, 11–11–0) defense during even strength and fell to the Terriers 3–1 at Agganis Arena on Friday night, putting the Eagles on the bubble for a bid to regional selections.

“Clearly, BU was ready to start that game on time, and we weren’t, except for our goalie,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “We talked about not helping their transition game, and we did several times in that first period with turnovers.”

By the time the Terriers’ first goal came with 8:42 remaining in the first, they led in shots on goal 9–2. They closed the first period outshooting the Eagles 19–4.

“Credit to BU for starting and playing with tempo, and we helped them at certain times with that, too,” Brown said.

Ryder Ritchie kicked off the scoring after a pass from Jack Murtagh slid past Lukas Gustafsson and Louka Cloutier, right into Ritchie’s load up. BU continued to hammer BC’s defensive zone, refusing to take its foot off the gas pedal during the final minutes of the first period. 

In the final two minutes of the frame, Cloutier was without his stick and searching for the puck’s coordinates when Cole Hutson hit Cole Eiserman with a no-look backhand pass. Eiserman finished a one-timer into the back of the net for a 2–0 BU lead.

The Eagles had plenty of catch-up to play in terms of shots on goal. And though they never exactly matched the Terriers, their Hockey East–leading man-up unit came to play.

A little less than eight minutes into the second frame, BC executed a textbook power-play sequence. Dean Letourneau slapped the puck from in front of the net to cap off tic-tac-toe passing from Andre Gasseau and James Hagens. 

“[Dean] gets himself through spots to get looks, and he does a good job being able to capitalize,” Brown said. “A lot of the earlier [goals] were tips and rebounds closer than that, but now he’s kind of finding his niche in that bumper role to be able to get to spots.”

Both Brady Berard and Nolan Joyce were sent to the box near the latter half of the second, putting the other half of BC’s special teams up to the plate, which ranks fifth in Hockey East in penalty-kill percentage.

BU kept piling shots on BC’s freshman netminder, but the Eagles held onto the critical one-goal deficit heading into the second intermission, with the Terriers leading in shots 32–13.

Both teams homed in on defensive physicality for the final period, as BC looked to avoid falling behind by two scores while BU focused on denying a game-tying goal.

“Even though [BU’s] on the penalty kill, they close the ice very fast,” Brown said. “So if we’re not ready to support pucks a little bit quick, then we get in trouble.”

On the Terriers’ 38th shot of the night, the puck finally crossed BC’s goal line for the first time since the end of the first period, but referees signaled no goal due to goalie interference, keeping Agganis Arena’s fans in delirium.

Teddy Stiga secured a good look with three minutes to play as he pulled off a toe-drag in front of the net, but the right pad of BU’s Mikhail Yegorov pushed it aside.

Despite finishing with 24 saves to Cloutier’s 38, Yegorov denied some high-quality looks for an Eagles offense that has been riding a hot streak.

Jack Harvey put the nail in the coffin with an empty-netter goal with 46 seconds left in the game, putting BU ahead 3–1 and fending off a 0–3 start versus BC this season.

“That was a good win for BU,” Brown said. “We have to make sure we’re managing the puck better tomorrow, helping out with the d-zone a little better, so Louka doesn’t have to stand on his head.”