CHESTNUT HILL — As Boston College star winger Ryan Leonard scooped up the puck in the neutral zone with nothing but open ice ahead of him, all 7,884 spectators at Conte Forum rose to their feet in anticipation. They knew exactly what was coming.
Sure enough, Leonard took a few strides before finding fellow star teammate Gabe Perrault on the weak side. Perrault perfectly timed his feed right back to Leonard, who tapped in the score to give BC a 1-0 lead just four minutes into the first period.
It was just that type of night for Northeastern.
The Huskies played the third-ranked Eagles tough for stretches on Friday, but ultimately were upended by detail mistakes, a lack of finishing, and BC’s superior talent in a thorough 3-0 defeat at a rocking Conte Forum.
“The first goal was as easy as it gets. Getting stuck on the wall, then it’s a 2-on-1, and two of the top players in college hockey go down and make a great play,” said Northeastern coach Jerry Keefe. “We came into the game talking about that, and then we didn’t execute in the first five minutes. And that’s on us.”
The loss dropped Northeastern‘s record to 1-6-3 (0-4-3), and for the second consecutive season, the Huskies have failed to record a Hockey East victory in their first seven league contests.
Beating the best team in Hockey East on the road presents a difficult challenge for any team, but when you have not won a game in well over a month, the issues begin to feel like they are compounding.
“I think scoring is a lot about confidence, which we’re lacking right now. And a lot of that is that you’ve got to get results, you’ve got to get a win,” Keefe said. “Our record is not very good. It stinks. But if you look at our team, and you look at the games we play, we’re in games. But we’ve got to get over the hump.”
All told, the Eagles did not dominate the game in terms of possession time and shots on goal — the final shot tally was only 32-28 BC. But the quality of chances far favored the Eagles, who play an aggressive style in all three zones and routinely turn loose pucks and turnovers into devastating odd-man rushes.
“When you’re not scoring a lot of goals, you can’t afford to make those types of mistakes,” Keefe said. “A few of our mistakes ended up in the back of their net, and that’s the game.”
Leonard’s goal set the tone for the Eagles and sent Conte Forum into an early frenzy, and the Eagles doubled their lead with a dirty-area goal by junior Andre Gasseu just minutes later. From there, the Huskies were fighting an uphill battle.
The second period yielded some more encouraging moments, and the Huskies arguably got the better of the possession time — but had nothing to show for it. Even when Northeastern won board battles and established a presence at the blue line, they still struggled to break down the teeth of the Eagles defense or connect on tight-window passes with consistency.
“We’ve got to finish better at the net, and I think we’ve got to get inside more,” Keefe said when asked what needed to change in the offensive zone.
Northeastern also got two power plays on Friday while the game was still in reach, and managed just one shot on goal total. Northeastern’s power play (10.3%) is dead last in Hockey East, and BC’s penalty kill (100%) is yet to give up a goal this season in 24 opportunities — a mismatch that looked every bit of it on the ice.
“They’re just really aggressive,” Keefe said of the Eagles’ penalty kill. “They just force you to have to make two or three really good plays in a row to break them down…and we didn’t make those tonight.”
The Huskies entered the third period with a fighting chance, but the Eagles proceeded to win the opening faceoff, control the O-zone for a minute, and find Leonard wide open in the high slot to snipe in his second goal of the night.
The dagger score by Leonard made the game 3-0, all but putting it out of Northeastern’s reach.
“We didn’t give ourselves a chance,” Keefe said. “That third one was really disappointing. It’s a 2-0 hockey game, and we’re right in that game. You can’t give up a goal in the first shift like that.”
As the two teams look ahead to a rematch on Saturday at a sold-out Matthews Arena, Northeastern will not need a complete overhaul. But the Eagles felt in control on Friday from start to finish, and Northeastern must clean up on detail mistakes and turn their 5v5 possession into higher-quality looks to give themselves a chance.
“We’ve got to go into the game believing,” Keefe said. “We’re not going to play perfect. But we also have to make sure that we’re not making mistakes that we talk about, and we have to learn from those going into the game tomorrow.”
The puck will drop between Northeastern and Boston College at 7 p.m. from Matthews Arena. Zach Lyons, Matty Wasserman, and Max Schwartzberg will have the call on WRBB Sports+.