AMHERST — For the third straight game, UMass could feel like it played well for long stretches and feel like it could have won the game. And for the third straight time, the Minutemen left the rink without two points in their register.
When No. 7 UMass was on Friday night against No. 5 Boston College, it looked like a game between two top-10 foes jockeying for position in the Hockey East standings. The action flowed from end to end and the chances were being exchanged almost evenly for 60 minutes.
It were the moments when the Minutemen weren’t as crisp that came back to haunt them against the high-powered Eagles. Boston College scored three times in the second period, capitalizing on a UMass miscue each time, to defeat the Minutemen 3-0 at the Mullins Center and pull into a tie on points atop the conference standings.
“When we were loose tonight in a couple of spots, BC took advantage,” UMass coach Greg Carvel said. “They’ve got the ability when they get chances to score, they finish, to me that was a big difference in the game.”
UMass (16-9-2, 9-6-2 Hockey East) had its fair share of opportunities to score on Spencer Knight, especially early in the game. The Minutemen earned a power play less than 90 seconds into the contest and put together one of their best efforts on the man advantage in a long time. The offensive zone possession continued in long stretches for the rest of the game, but the Minutemen never found themselves in the correct positions around the goal.
Boston College (16-7-0, 10-5-0) was content with collapsing in the crease around Knight, protecting its freshman goalie from many shots in and around the net. The Eagles also interrupted the rhythm of the UMass possession by blocking shots and passes, and not allowing the Minutemen in front of the net from redirecting shots. UMass had nearly half of its 59 shot attempts either blocked (11) or go wide (17), largely due to the pressure the Eagles applied around the net.
“We needed something to go our way, we needed a bounce, we needed a puck to get in the back of the net, that would have helped us, especially early in the game,” Carvel said. “We’re on a stretch here now where we’ve scored one goal in three games. We needed something to fall our way, BC is a real good team, played real well and their goaltender is tough to beat. We didn’t have enough Grade A chances to get on the score sheet.”
When the bounces came for Boston College, it was ready to capitalize, especially in the second period. Just 1 minute, 9 seconds into the period, a fluttering puck was swatted down by Alex Newhook, who then batted it out of the air with his stick to put the Eagles on the board. Midway through the frame, Boston College cleared the puck after some extended zone time for UMass. Logan Hutsko kept the puck on an odd-man break and flipped it over Matt Murray’s shoulder to double the lead.
The Eagles added a third goal with 1:34 left in the second on a wrist shot from Graham McPhee after Jack McBain freed the puck from a scrum in the corner and fed his teammate in the faceoff circle.
“Obviously it’s nice to get a bounce, but you’ve got to earn your bounces throughout the game,” UMass senior Jake McLaughlin said. “We’d like to score on the (first) power play, that would be nice, but we’ve got to earn our bounces. We have to earn our goals and everything and that comes from playing the right way.”
UMass kept pushing for a goal in the third period and had the better of the play for most of the final 20 minutes. The Minutemen had several great chances to score, but missed connections in the last pass or two. It was still going well for UMass until it was caught with too many men on the ice with 5:19 left.
The Minutemen had been zipping the puck around the offensive zone on a power play and forced Knight to move side to side a lot while peppering the net with shots. But when UMass was caught in the middle of a line change to negate the final minute of the man advantage, the heads on the bench started to sink.
UMass killed the penalty, but shortly after that John Leonard let his frustration out on a Boston College defender after getting the puck poked off his stick, epitomizing the emotions boiling up within the Minutemen.
“That’s on us (as leaders) to keep the bench up and keep the energy,” senior captain Niko Hildenbrand said. “Guys know that we have to bring that energy no matter what the score of the game is or where we’re playing. That’s something we’ve echoed all year and guys know that.”