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Ryan Leonard’s hat trick highlights No. 1 BC hockey’s victory over No. 8 BU
"You can't give up those chances against that team."
Something had to give on Friday night at Agganis Arena.
The 296th edition of the Battle of Commonwealth Avenue followed a familiar script, with No. 1 Boston College and No. 8 Boston University set for an on-ice collision course amid a pair of four-game winning streaks.
In other words, just the type of pitched battle that Boston College sophomore forward Ryan Leonard thrives in.
The Hobey Baker Award candidate and Washington Capitals draft pick was a one-man wrecking crew in enemy territory, scoring his first hat trick of the season en route to the Eagles’ 6-2 win over their archrival at Agganis Arena.
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It was another statement win for the top-ranked Eagles (17-4-1), who leapfrogged the Terriers (13-8-1) to also take over first place in the Hockey East standings.
“I thought it was a good battle of a hockey game,” BC head coach Greg Brown said. “Definitely closer than the score, a couple of empty-net goals at the end. … It was a tight game. We have to manage the penalty situation better, and then play with confidence for the whole 60 minutes. But we’re happy to get the win.”
While Leonard led the way with three tallies (two of which came via empty-netters in the final minutes of play), it was the play of sophomore goalie Jacob Fowler that kept BC afloat on the road — with the poised goalie and a bend-but-not-break penalty kill holding off a high-powered Terriers offense.
“Just disappointing with some of our mistakes that are going to cost you against that team,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo noted.
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The Eagles showcased their shorthanded prowess in a choppy first few minutes for the home team.
A sluggish man advantage for BU opened the door for the Eagles to strike first, with an errant pass at center ice picked off Eagles sophomore Will Vote. Skating in unopposed against BU’s Mathieu Caron, the Arlington native went five-hole against the Terriers goalie to open the scoring just 5:17 into the bout.
“The guys seemed calm and excited and ready to play,” Pandolfo said. “In the first, I don’t know if we got caught up in the moment a little bit, but you give them a breakaway and then a 2-on-0 in the first, I don’t know what it was — six, eight minutes into the first period. You can’t give up those chances against that team.”
A five-minute major doled out against Eagles defenseman Michael Hagens gave BU new life later in the frame.
Despite entering Friday’s game second in the nation with a 90.7 percent success rate on the PK, the Eagles were knocked for two tallies during Hagens’ extended stretch in the sin bin.
BU junior forward Quinn Hutson secured the equalizer at 11:48 in the first, knocking a rebound bid past Fowler to tie things up.
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A fortunate bounce allowed the Terriers to double their lead less than a minute later. A seemingly harmless dump-in from BU freshman Cole Eiserman took a wild ricochet — hitting off the stanchion and skittering back out to the low slot.
Fowler, who skated behind the net in order to corral the seemingly harmless puck, was caught out of position because of that unexpected trajectory — allowing Eiserman to knock the offering into an empty net to make it a 2-1 BU lead at 12:26.
It was a fortuitous start for the Terriers, one that dissipated in short order during the middle stanza.
“Mostly stay out of the box,” Brown said of his message to his team after the opening 20 minutes. “We can’t get caught up in the emotional part of it. You have to play with emotion, but you can’t get caught up in it. … Tonight, we let our emotions run a little too high early, but after that, we did a better job.”
The Terriers’ lead lasted until 5:30 into the second, with Sudbury native Teddy Stiga knotting the game up at 2-2 after deflecting a fluttering puck past Caron.
It was the start of a three-goal barrage for BC in the middle frame, with Leonard giving the Eagles a lead it would not relinquish at 13:03. Turning on the afterburners just past center ice during 4-on-4 play, Leonard accelerated past a pair of scarlet-and-white sweaters — snapping a puck past Caron’s blocker for his 16th tally of the season.
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“They get one chance, obviously, from a good player,” Pandolfo said of Leonard’s tally. “We didn’t do a very good job of picking him up through the neutral zone, and next thing you know it’s in the back of our net. I just felt the life went out of our team a little bit there.”
Boston College’s fourth line gave the visitors some insurance with five minutes left in the second, with East Greenwich, Rhode Island, native Brady Berard firing a loose puck into twine to cap the Eagles’ scoring on the night.
For all of the firepower on the Eagles’ roster, their top perch in the collegiate hockey rankings is a byproduct of a stingy defense and an elite goaltender in Fowler.
That sentiment was validated over the final 20 minutes of play, with the Eagles only landing three shots on goal.
Despite the Terriers ending that final period of play with a pair of power-play bids and 14 shots on goal, Fowler did not budge — turning aside all 14 shots to snuff out any shot of a Terrier comeback.
“His mental game is as strong as anybody,” Brown said of Fowler. “So he didn’t get down at all. He sticks right to his process, and he was very sharp for the rest of the game.”
While Fowler kept the Terriers at bay, Leonard further twisted the knife down the other end of the frozen sheet — twice finding the back of the net via empty-net tallies in the span of 2:39.
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The Terriers will not have to wait very long to try and exact some revenge against their Green-Line nemesis. The 297th edition of the Battle of Comm. Ave is set for Saturday night, with puck drop at the Eagles’ Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill set for 7 p.m.
“You gotta recover like crazy,” Brown said of the approach for the Eagles on Saturday. “You do all the little things to get hydrated and stay as fresh as you can be, but also the mental side — don’t get too high. You come away with a win, you just have to be tomorrow. We know they’re going to make a good push. Have to be ready for that.”
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