CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - No. 3 Boston College avenged its earlier loss to No. 19 Maine in a big way on Saturday night thanks to five-point performances by Kevin Hayes and Johnny Gaudreau in a 7-2 triumph at Kelley Rink. The Eagles scored three power play goals to stretch their unbeaten streak to nine games (8-0-1).
Hayes offered up his first-career hat trick along with a pair of assists while Gaudreau helped out on all three of Hayes' goals. The Carneys Point, N.J., added two more helpers to cap a five-assist performance and stretch his point streak to college hockey's best mark of 18-straight outings with at least one point.
Senior captain Patrick Brown accounted for two of BC's three power play tallies and added an assist for his first-career three-point night. Bill Arnold also had a three-point performance with a goal and two helpers.
The Eagles have now defeated six teams by a five-goal margin or more with the top-ranked offense (4.57 gpg) in the country. The Eagles' nine-game unbeaten streak is the second-longest in the country (Minnesota - 8-0-2).
Rookie goaltender Thatcher Demko turned in an incredible performance, along with an assist, to earn his fifth victory of the season. Maine's Martin Ouellette stopped four goals on 16 shots while Dan Sullivan steered away 13-of-16 shots in 34:04 of relief duty. Boston College outshot the Black Bears, 32-25.
The Eagles struck 70 seconds in following the opening drop on a fast transition play through the middle to set the early tone.
Demko made the initial stop and left it for Scott Savage on BC's crease. Savage whizzed it up to Gaudreau on the red line who then immediately relayed it up to Hayes on the near post. Hayes' initial attempt was blocked, but his rebound attempt was successful to give Boston College the 1-0 advantage at 1:10 of the first period.
The remainder of the first period was spent a man down for each side a majority of the frame, but with 0.9 seconds to go, Maine managed to tie it up.
Initially, the first period horn sounded, but the officials went to look at the replay of a scrum in front of Demko. After deliberation, the referees deemed that Jon Swavely snuck the puck through traffic to the back of the net at 19:59 to tie it up heading into intermission.
Eight seconds into the second stanza, Ryan Lomberg was called for slashing and switched momentum back onto BC's side. The Eagles keep the puck in Maine's zone for an extended duration before it paid off at 4:18.
Hayes generated the play up top with a diagonal pass down low to Savage. Arnold cemented himself in front of Ouellette and banged home the perfect pass from Savage for the 2-1 lead.
Forty-six seconds later, Brown put the Eagles up, 3-1. BC won the ensuing draw from Arnold's goal and Gaudreau carted it down behind the Black Bears' net to set up the play. Gaudreau jutted it out to the goal mouth where Brown and Arnold crowded the blue paint. Brown corralled the pass and jammed it five-hole on Ouellette at 5:04
The Eagles kept the momentum going and scored their third goal in 1:38 to grab a 4-1 advantage.
Freshman Ryan Fitzgerald worked the puck off the boards around the back of the net to Brown on the goal line. First-year blue liner Ian McCoshen flew in from his defensive post and bashed home the one-timer feed from Brown in between the circles at 5:56.
Newcomer Chris Calnan took a late boarding call at 17:47 of the second frame and Maine capitalized a few exchanges later.
Stu Higgins stopped the bleeding with a 1:20 left to go in the period after burying a rebound from Devin Shore on the far post. Higgins made it a 4-2 affair with the power play marker at 18:40.
Maine started its third period much like the second as Conor Riley was cited for boarding 22 seconds in. BC's cycle paid off at 1:16 of the third on another tight play on Ouellette.
Michael Matheson carved Maine's penalty kill with a feed down to Gaudreau on the near post. Gaudreau lifted his shot just wide of Ouellette but Brown was in position to deflect it over the goal line for the 5-2 buffer.
Boston College poured it on with two late tallies to cap the 7-2 triumph.
Demko earned the secondary assist on the play with the dump off to Gaudreau on the near post. Gaudreau connected with Hayes on a homerun pass up the ice to create a 2-on-1 situation. Hayes and Arnold had the man advantage in front of Ouellette and instead of hooking up with Arnold, Hayes roofed it top shelf for his second of the night.
Maine was called for too many men at 16:49 of the third and Hayes finished off the hat trick with a power play tally at 17:47. Hayes managed to deflect his shot off of a Black Bear skate in the crease to sew up the victory.
Boston College will play its third game in five days in some mid-week action at Merrimack next Tuesday night, Jan. 21. The first meeting of the season with the Warriors starts at 7 p.m.
Game Notes
- Johnny Gaudreau is now averaging over two points per game with 47 points (21-26-47) in 23 games. The Carneys Point, N.J., native is working on college hockey's longest point streak this season. Gaudreau put an exclamation point on his 18-game point streak with a five-assist performance on the victory over Maine on Jan. 18. In the last 18 games, Gaudreau has accrued 18 goals and 21 assists for 39 points. Tonight marked his 11th-multi point game within the scoring spell. Gaudreau was one point shy of a matching a career high of six points in a game (2-4-6) he set at Vermont on March 9, 2013.
- After surpassing Jerry York's career point total of 134, Johnny Gaudreau tied another member of the Eagle coaching staff on Jan. 18. Gaudreau pulled even with BC assistant coach Marty McInnis for 29th all-time (Joe Whitney also finished his career with 142 career points). In 118 games played, McInnis totaled 142 points (58-84-142). It took Gaudreau 102 games to reach that mark (63-79-142). Gaudreau owns the highest points per game output for a career in college hockey, averaging 1.39 points every time he has touched the ice. His 142 total points are also fourth best amongst current college skaters in career points. Of the 19 top skaters in that career list, Gaudreau is the only junior listed. Everyone else has played all four seasons.
- Kevin Hayes continues his huge season and broke out for an even bigger performance with a hat trick and a pair of assists for a five-point night. Both the hat trick and the five points are career bests for the Dorchester, Mass., product. Hayes just passed former Eagle coach Len Ceglarski on the all-time scoring records for 64th all-time with 109 points (33-76-109). Hayes' hat trick marks the second of the season for BC (Destry Straight - Dec. 28 vs. Penn State).
- The trio of Johnny Gaudreau - Bill Arnold - Kevin Hayes has been nothing short of unstoppable since being paired together on Dec. 6. Not only has BC not lost since this line joined forces, the trio has combined for 22 goals and 36 assists (58 points) and a +46 plus/minus rating. In the Jan. 18 win over Maine, Gaudreau, Arnold and Hayes combined for four goals and nine assists (13 points). Since the combination of these three, they have ALL scored at least one point per game in the last NINE outings. Hayes and Arnold have now joined Gaudreau on career-high point streaks. Hayes is riding a 10-game streak (10-14-24) and Arnold is on a nine-game tear (5-10-15).
- The last time a pair of Eagles scored five points in a game was when Nathan Gerbe (4-1-5) and Benn Ferriero (2-3-5) turned the trick at Harvard on Dec. 12, 2007. Gaudreau (0-5-5) and Hayes (3-2-5) put that 2,229-day streak to rest in the 7-2 win over Maine on Jan. 18.
- Thatcher Demko got offensive minded on Jan. 18 and registered the first assist by a goaltender since Parker Milner did so against New Hampshire on Jan. 11, 2013.
- Patrick Brown not only tallied his first-career two-goal game, both strikes came via the power play. Boston College has not had a skater score two power play goals in a game this season. With Hayes' power play marker, BC also set a high a season high with three.
- Following the results on Jan. 18, the Eagles are six points clear of Northeastern for first place in Hockey East. BC has racked up 21 league points (10-1-1).