The Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks finished a weekend sweep of second-ranked Boston College with a 4-1 win Saturday night at Tsongas Arena, marking the first time this season the Eagles have suffered back-to-back losses.
With the win, UML remained in the hunt for home ice in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs and raised its overall record to 19-7-4 (10-7-3 Hockey East). Boston College fell to 19-6-5 (12-3-5) on the year.
“I’d like to give BC a lot of credit. As it seems it happens too often to them, they’re undermanned. They’ve got a lot of guys that are playing injured,” River Hawks head coach Blaise MacDonald said. “They’re really playing with a lot of guts and determination. I thought we were fortunate to catch them at the time that we did.”
After a scoreless first period, Stephen Gionta put Boston College up 1-0 with assistance from Chris Collins at 1:08 of the middle stanza.
But UML junior forward Mark Pandolfo evened the score 1-1 at 5:26. Todd Fletcher and Elias Godoy garnered assists on the play.
Godoy gave the River Hawks a 2-1 lead at 9:38 when Pandolfo intercepted a pass at the blueline and directed the puck to the breaking Godoy, who skated in on BC netminder Matti Kaltiainen and directed a high shot past the goaltender’s left shoulder.
Freshman defenseman Grant Farrell extended the UML advantage to 3-1 when his shot from the blueline bounced off legs and found its way into the net at 15:08. Fletcher and Matt Walsh set up Farrell’s second goal of the season.
Sophomore Jeremy Hall added an insurance marker into the empty net at 19:12 of the third period for a 4-1 final. Defensemen Cleve Kinley and Matt Collar earned assists on the play.
Freshman goaltender Peter Vetri made a career-best 39 saves to earn the win, while Kaltiainen stopped 24 shots for the Eagles. UML was 1-6 on the power play, while holding BC scoreless in four opportunities.
