Boston College arrived at the 72nd Beanpot championship game as the top-ranked team in the nation with a ton of talent that will one day be playing in the National Hockey League.
But Boston University is no slouch. And the Terriers now have a great equalizer in net.
Mikhail Yegorov, playing just his fifth collegiate game, made 43 saves and the Terriers, dominated in the first period, scored two goals in 1:10 in the second period to grind out a 4–1 win at the Garden on Monday.
Brandon Svoboda and Cole Hutson scored in the second period before Cole Eiserman broke the Eagles back with a late unassisted goal in the third period, giving the Terriers their 32nd Beanpot title. Yegorov was terrific but once the Terriers took the lead, the BU defense was also outstanding.
The No. 1 Eagles looked very worthy of that ranking in the early going, storming the BU end so much that it at times looked like a BC power play.
And the Eagles did take a 1-0 lead at 6:13. Leading Hobey Baker candidate Ryan Leonard, who had 23 goals in 26 games coming into the championship game, showed he can pass the puck as well, especially when everyone in the building thinks he’s going to shoot. From the left circle, Leonard sent a beauty of a pass down to Gabe Perrault at the side of the net. Perreault had time to settle the puck and sweep it into the net before goalie Mikhail Yegorov could recover.
If not for Yegorov, the Eagles might have run the Terriers out of the building. At one point, BC had a 15-2 shot advantage, but the St. Petersburg, Russian native was excellent in keeping BU in the game.
Even when BU got a power play late in the first, the Eagles killed it off with ease.
The Terriers, however, found their legs in the second period. After first killing off a BC power play to start the period, BU struck for two quick goals in 1:10.
The Terriers tied it up at 5:41 when a neutral zone turnover led to a 2-on-1. Perrault made a bad backhand pass at the BU blueline and it was picked off by BU for an odd-man rush. Brandon Svoboda elected to keep it and beat Jacob Fowler high to the short side, a beautiful roof job.
Then, Lane Hutson beat Fowler with a shot from the left circle and the Terriers had the lead, a turn of events that seemed highly unlikely in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Yegorov again had to come up with some big stops when Tristan Amonte drilled Aram Minnetian from behind and went to the box for two minutes (it was reviewed for a major but deemed just a minor penalty).
The Terriers had a chance to get a two-goal bulge when Kamil Bednarik had a breakaway but Fowler turned it away.
BC got a late power play and then it was Yegorov’s turn as the Russian made a solid pad save on Teddy Stiga on the doorstep.
The Eagles were going to have 1:10 of power-play time to start the third, but Leonard took a roughing penalty after the horn to end the second.
After both teams had chances early in the third, the Terriers settled into lead-protection mode, making it difficult for the Eagles to get through the neutral zone. And when BC get it into the offensive zone, BU made it even harder to penetrate the house in front of Yegorov.
Then BC made another mistake with 6:08 left in the third. Carrying the puck back into his own zone, Lukas Gustafsson’s backhand pass intended for Minnetian was picked off by freshman Cole Eiserman and he beat Fowler with a backbreaking backhander.
Finally, Gavin McCarthy ended it with empty-netter from behind his own goal line.