Boston College-Northeastern Final: Eagles, Huskies Play to 1-1 Tie

Boston College-Northeastern Final: A late Boston College goal helped the #16 Eagles salvage a 1-1 tie with the Northeastern Huskies on Friday night.

The draw moves Boston College’s overall record to 11-7-2 on the season. Though the Eagles no longer have a win streak, snapped at four games on Friday, Boston College is unbeaten in their last six games, going 4-0-2 in that span.

Boston College-Northeastern Final: Game Synopsis

Though the first period did not feature any scoring, Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko saw plenty of action in front of his own net. The Huskies outshot the Eagles, 12-6, and Demko stopped all 12 sent to the net by the home team. Several of those saves were impressive, including one where Demko stopped Kevin Roy at point-blank range. Outside of the goalie, it would be fair to say Boston College got outplayed by a wide margin in the first.

The Eagles took their first penalty early in the second period, and though it looked like Boston College was getting the better chances on the kill — they had three shorthanded shots on-goal — Northeastern got the last one. With a second remaining in the power play, the Huskies’ Mike Szmatula beat a sprawled-out Demko to give Northeastern a 1-0 lead.

Boston College led in shots during the second period, 9-8, but it became clear that Northeastern goalie Clay Witt would be a tough netminder to beat on Friday evening.

Opportunity after opportunity would pass Boston College by in the third period as they had several power play chances that came and went. In fact, Northeastern’s defense seemed to be doing a very good job at limiting the Eagle offense: Boston College rarely had long shifts in the offensive zone and they did well disrupting any rhythm the Eagles gathered.

Yet, even though the game looked bleak, Boston College’s Adam Gilmour finally beat Witt after collecting a loose puck near the net and blasting it home to tie the game, 1-1, with 2:15 to go in regulation time. That capped a 17-shot period for the Eagles, despite the fact that few of their shifts generated big chances. Only one did, however, and that was enough.

Play in overtime was mostly even, with Boston College taking the only shot on-goal.

Boston College-Northeastern Final: Goal Chart

Boston College-Northeastern Final: The Stats

Boston College outshot Northeastern, 33-31. The Eagles went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Northeastern was 1-for-2.

Thatcher Demko had 30 saves, while Clay Witt had 32; both goalies played very well.

Boston College-Northeastern Final: Opinionating

Boston College Eagles

Ties are rarely ideal, but this is one case where Boston College should be pleased with stealing a point on the road. That one-goal deficit in the second and third felt like four with the way the Eagles were playing, but they saved face thanks to Adam Gilmour’s goal and Thatcher Demko’s strong performance overall.

It seemed for sure that Boston College would head back to Kelley Rink on a loss, but one point is better than no points and the Eagles found a way to salvage something out of a game where they did not play their best.

Likewise, from a Northeastern perspective, they probably felt like they gave a point away. They are not wrong.

Boston College will take the point and get ready for tomorrow, a game that they will need to win to make this a successful weekend.

Boston College-Northeastern Final: Next Up

Boston College hockey will take their home-and-home series back to Conte Forum on Saturday afternoon to face Northeastern again at 4pm.