BOSTON, Mass. - Senior Zach Cohen broke a 1-1 tie with just under six minutes left in regulation to lift the No. 19 Boston University men's ice hockey team to a 2-1 comeback victory over Providence on Saturday evening at Agganis Arena. The Terriers improve to 14-13-3 overall and 11-10-2 in Hockey East play and move back into fourth place in the league standings.
Trailing 1-0 entering the third, the Terriers got a timely goal from sophomore Andrew Glass - his first tally of the season - at 6:58 of the period before Cohen provided the game-winner. Freshman Max Nicastro assisted on both tallies and sophomore goaltender Kieran Millan recorded 28 saves.
Providence, which falls to 10-18-2 overall with a 5-16-2 conference mark, got a 39-save performance from sophomore Alex Beaudry. The Friars opened the scoring 27 seconds into the second on an unassisted tally by senior Mark Fayne.
Following their home victories over the Terriers on Friday night and back on Jan. 15, the Friars were looking to become just the second team in the last six seasons to sweep a league series from BU. PC also hadn't swept BU since the 1998-99 campaign.
The Terriers dominated play in the first period, outshooting the visitors by a 15-6 margin, but were unable to solve Beaudry and the PC defense and headed into the first intermission in a scoreless deadlock. The highlight of the period, however, was a remarkable stick save by an out-of-position Millan to block sophomore Matt Bergland on a virtually empty net.
A turnover by BU in its own zone proved costly in the early stages of the second as a clearing pass along the boards was picked off in front of the blue line by Fayne. The defenseman took a stride towards the right circle before firing a shot that got past Millan just 27 seconds into the middle stanza for the game's first goal.
Beaudry let the Friars hold onto their lead through the second and into the third, stopping the Terriers' first 32 shots on the night before allowing the equalizer from Glass.
Just under seven minutes into the third, Nicastro controlled the puck at the right point and skated in before passing down to senior Luke Popko, who was positioned below the net on the right side. Popko immediately tried to return the puck to Nicastro, but the pass missed his stick. Glass, however, was there by the right faceoff dot to punch a low shot to the back of the net and tie the contest.
With the game knotted at 1-all, Providence junior Ian O'Connor raced in on the left side and followed up a rebound off his own shot before directing the puck into the goal off his skate as he collided with Millan with just under eight minutes left in regulation. The goal was initially waved off by the officials, who ruled it was kicked in by O'Connor. After a video review, the call stood, but the reason for the no-goal was changed to goaltender interference.
Two minutes after the near goal, Cohen provided the heroics to iginite the Agganis crowd. Nicastro took a pass from freshman Alex Chiasson at the right point and blasted a shot that Cohen - from the middle of the slot - redirected past Beaudry at the 14:07.
Providence pulled Beaudry in favor of an extra attacker in the final minute, but the Friars were unable to generate a scoring chance and BU held on for its 14th victory of the season.
The Terriers will return to action next weekend when they head north for a pair of televised contests against No. 17 Vermont. The teams will meet Friday (Feb. 26) at 7:30 p.m. on NESN before facing off on Sunday (Feb. 28) at 3 p.m. in a game that will be broadcast by ESPNU. Providence will face UMass Lowell in a home-and-home series next weekend, beginning at Lowell on Friday.