Stunned

Gilmour celebrates his game winner. Photo from Dave Arnold

Guys were bouncing off the walls, girls were screaming at the top of their lungs, and every single person draped in black and red was standing on their feet screaming the words "Billett, Billett, you suck !", followed by the "BC sucks" and "overrated" chants. Operation "Blackout BC" was a success.

Nope. 

Thanks to an overtime game winner from freshman Adam Gilmour, the Boston College Eagles completed a sweep of crosstown foe, Northeastern, while moving into a tie for first place with BU and UMass-Lowell in the process. You may have noticed I was a bit displeased with the way the team played last night. Apparently, so was the staff as they inserted Teddy Doherty (for Savage), Brendan Silk (for Richardson), and Destry Straight (for Spiro) into the lineup tonight. Like Coach York says after each game in October and early November, right now it's about the process and I thought BC played much better tonight they did last night. They didn't have as many breakdowns defensively as they had on Friday and they created a bunch of grade A chances on goalie Clay Whitt. 

On the offensive side of things, I thought BC's third line of Patrick Brown, Quinn Smith, and Adam Gilmour was sensational. To compete in Hockey East, you need to have three quality scoring lines. We didn't have that last year. Now we do and not only are they scoring goals, they're scoring BIG goals. All three guys were +2 tonight. The staff doesn't need them to be as dominant as the first two lines are but they need to be productive not only in the offensive end, but also in their own end. Smith and Brown are, in my opinion, the two best defensive forwards on the team and Gilmour is getting better as each game goes by. As for the big guns, it was more of the same as Arnold, Johnny G, and Kevin Hayes were buzzing all over the ice, getting quality scoring chances on the NU net. If it wasn't for some spectacular saves, BC could have ran away with that game. One guy that I thought played five times better than he did last night was Ryan Fitzgerald. He tallied his second goal in as many nights and his third of the season. Also loved the way he battled on the penalty kill. Great overall game. 

As for the guys on the blue line, I'd give them a B, maybe a B-. I thought Matheson and Santini were phenomenal once again, I mean Santini was +3 tonight and is now a team leading +9 on the year. Don't forget he is often matched up against the opponent's top line. He and Matheson teamed up to hold Kevin Roy to just one point on the weekend. I was pleased with Teddy Doherty's play as he had a great assist on Johnny G's goal and was +1 on the night. The sour part of the evening was BC's third pairing of Isaac Macleod and Danny Linell. They were a combined -4 and were the culprits for multiple BC turnovers, one of which resulted in a goal, NU's third. You have to watch the highlights. It wasn't pretty...at all. 

I always get ridiculed by the twitter world when I say that there aren't two better forwards in Hockey East than Kevin Hayes and Johnny G. I thought NU did an excellent job (well, as good as you can do) vs Johnny G tonight but they gave him about three feet of room midway through third period. Of course, he scored and tied the game. While he was a bit of a non-factor in the third period, I thought Kevin Hayes was by far and away the best player on the ice for the first forty minutes. He wins player of the weekend in my mind. 

Positives- 

1. Great play from the third line. Nice to see them get rewarded with an OT winner.

2. The new top D pair of Matheson-Santini was a combined +4 and kept Roy in check for most of the night....besides that horrendous turnover (which wasn't there fault). 

3.G and Hayes dominated. Nothing unexpected. 

Negatives- 

1. Power play. I've run out of things to say except it stinks right now. 

2. Poor turnovers in the third. NU put BC back on their heels in the early portion of the third period and were rewarded with a couple gifts. Guys just can't turn the puck over in their own zone, especially late in games. 

Player(s) of the game- Patrick Brown/Adam Gilmour/ Quinn Smith/Steven Santini 

Next Up- I shouldn't have to tell you. 

Go Eagles !