Boston College prides itself on its resiliency. The No. 19-ranked Eagles aren’t fans of playing from behind but are prepared to when the situation arises.
On Saturday night at Conte Forum, they fought back from two one-goal deficits and rode sophomore left wing Ryan Fitzgerald’s first career hat trick to a 3-2 victory over Connecticut in front of 6,815 boisterous fans.
It was the Huskies’ first trip to the BC campus and the first time UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh returned to the Heights as the visiting coach after 18 years on Jerry York’s coaching staff.
“I always wanted Mike Cavanaugh to get a job,” said York. “But not in our league. He is doing a terrific job. They are a legitimate team now in Division 1. There were some questions about how they were going to come into Hockey East and how they were going to play but some of their [wins] this year, and the way we’ve seen them play for the two games [this year, which is their first in Hockey East], they’re going to be a terrific addition to our league.”
UConn (7-12-5, 4-6-2) struck first, taking advantage of a power-play opportunity.
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It was sophomore defenseman Ryan Segalla who beat sophomore goaltender Thatcher Demko (19 saves) on a snap shot from the top of the right circle at 10:13 of the opening period.
The Eagles (15-8-2, 8-5-2) tied the game at 16:40 of the second during a power play when Fitzgerald buried the rebound outside the right post after junior defenseman Michael Matheson’s shot from the left point.
BC had a great chance earlier in the period when sophomore right wing Chris Calnan raced in on a breakaway but goaltender Rob Nichols (34 saves) came out and cut him off at 10:05.
UConn regained the lead at 17:03 with an even-strength goal. Sophomore left wing Joona Kunnas teed up a rebound that blew past Demko to make it 2-1. The Eagles rallied to tie the game a second time, though, on the second goal by Fitzgerald, who had a game-high eight shots on net.
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With just 54.7 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Fitzgerald potted a rebound through Nichols’s pads after a scramble in front.
At 12:20 of the third, Fitzgerald decided it on his third goal of the night. It was the fourth time in his career he had three points in a contest.
As much as Fitzgerald was the star of the night, Demko held off a barrage of scoring chances with just over a minute left in regulation and Nichols pulled for an extra attacker. He staved off back-to-back bids by Segalla and another by Kunnas.
“The three quick saves, rapid fire by Thatcher at the end of the game, when he had not seen much action through a long stretch, all of a sudden he was called upon to make some remarkable saves,” said York. “It was certainly one of the keys to us winning the game.”
For Cavanaugh, it was nice to return to the place he called home for so many seasons but it was a little strange, too.
“Last time I dressed in [the visitors room at Conte Forum] was for an alumni game probably 10 years ago, they needed someone to suit up,” he said. “It looks good, they did a lot of work over there I guess. It was different. I think down at Hartford [where BC lost to the Huskies, 1-0, on Nov. 5], Jerry was to my left so I didn’t see him as much. He was right across the way tonight.”
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Cavanaugh said he forgot about it when the game started but he did have time to reflect before the contest started.
“For the national anthem and that, it’s a little bit strange and the more we play them, it won’t be strange anymore,” he said. “But the first time coming back into Conte, and being on the visitors’ bench, it was different.”
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at nancy.marrapese-burrell@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Elle1027.