Boston College defenseman Ian McCoshen powered home a slap shot from the point at 17:50 of the third, then added an empty-netter in the closing seconds to give the Eagles a 5-3 win over arch-rival Boston University.
The moment in the offensive limelight was a fitting one considering that McCoshen had made two gigantic defensive plays earlier in the period, not to mention assisting on two second-period goals.
“His influence was [apparent] on the game tonight,” BC coach Jerry York said. “He was a man out there. Everyone knew exactly where number three was on the ice.
“He’s not only a physical presence on the ice, but he’s also got a nice offensive touch to him. You notice when he has the puck and when he doesn’t have the puck.”
The win gives York 999 for his career and puts him in position to get number 1000 on Saturday night at BU. Predictably, he dismissed all talk of it.
“I’m not involved in that,” he said. “We’ve always talked about it being a team sport. We, not me. So it’s just a number to me.
“The early part of my career, I didn’t think I’d make it to 37.”
Power-play goals abounded in the game, with BU capitalizing on three of six chances and BC two of seven, including McCoshen’s game-winner. Austin Cangelosi also scored on a penalty shot, technically a short-handed goal since BC was on the penalty kill when the junior got taken down on a breakaway.
Other than the power play and goaltender Sean Maguire, however, it was a long night for BU, despite the close score. The Terriers had come into the contest on a three-game winning streak, including wins over No. 2 Quinnipiac and No. 7 Harvard, but they were outplayed by BC after a close first period.
“We took a step back tonight,” BU coach David Quinn said. “It’s certainly not the way we want to play or need to play if we’re going to have success moving forward. I thought we were slow. I thought we were soft.
“[We gave up] way too many odd-man rushes. Not an awful lot to like about our game tonight.”
When asked what led to all the conceded odd-man rushes, Quinn pulled no punches.
“Poor puck management, puck-watching, and being lazy,” he said.
The Terriers got the scoring started at 18:01 of the first when Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (aka JFK) took Ahti Oksanen’s pass in the slot and ripped home his sixth goal of the year.
BC scored three times in the second, starting with Cangelosi’s penalty shot. On the shot, the junior slowed to a crawl once he entered the slot, stick-handling furiously but barely maintaining any forward momentum at all. Then from 10 feet out, he wristed a shot past Maguire on the glove side.
The tie lasted all of 17 seconds, with Oksanen answering on a power play. It was the Finn’s 100th career point, making him the third European at BU to reach that milestone. Tommi Degerman (1996-2000) and Petteri Koskimaki (1989-1993) preceded him.
Three minutes later, BC drew back to even in the see-saw event, tying it on Zach Sanford’s rebound goal in front, a backhander into the top of net.
At 15:35, the Eagles seized the lead on a power play. Although they couldn’t capitalize immediately on a 22-second five-on-three, they did so before the second penalty elapsed, working the puck around nicely until Casey Fitzgerald fed top scorer Colin White for a go-ahead goal.
The 3-2 lead held for over 20 minutes, but BU evened the score on another power-play goal at 15:48 of the third. Matt Lane one-timed a shot that Thatcher Demko juggled but couldn’t control.
With the score once again deadlocked, this time at 3-3, the stage was set for McCoshen’s offensive heroics.
