It would be understandable if Boston University fans felt some trepidation with less than five minutes remaining in the Hockey East men’s quarterfinal matchup with Northeastern Saturday at Agganis Arena.
The Terriers saw their three-goal lead cut to 3-2 when Northeastern captain Justin Hryckowian scored the second of his two goals at 15:09 of the third period. The game started to feel like each of the previous three meetings between the teams this season, all decided in overtime by a 4-3 score, with the Huskies prevailing in the last two, including the championship game of the Beanpot.
But any concern was short-lived thanks to freshman Macklin Celebrini, who answered just 26 seconds later, beating Northeastern goalie Cameron Whitehead glove side to give the Terriers a two-goal cushion. That would cap the scoring, with the 4-2 win advancing BU to Friday’s semifinals against Maine at TD Garden at 7:30 p.m.
“Obviously a special player making a special play there to give us that lead back,” said senior captain Case McCarthy, whose blast from just inside the blue line gave the Terriers a 3-0 lead late in the second. “It was a huge goal for us. Going into that last little bit we knew they’re going to make a push and obviously building that little bit of a comfort zone with two goals was absolutely massive.”
It was Celebrini’s 30th, good for second in the nation behind Boston College’s Cutter Gauthier. BU improved to 25-8-2 and is No. 2 in the PairWise rankings, the system used to determine the NCAA tournament field.
“I really liked our effort tonight,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “I thought we played a pretty complete game. They had some pushes at times but I thought we did a good job protecting the front of our net.”
After a scoreless first period, the Terriers struck for three goals in the second, breaking through midway through the game when Quinn Hutson one-timed a pass from Ryan Greene past Whitehead (28 saves) at 9:51.
The lead grew to 2-0 when BU struck on the power play at 13:40 after Northeastern was whistled for too many men on the ice. Sophomore Jeremy Wilmer found Luke Tuch in front of the net for the easy one-timer.
When McCarthy followed with his strike at 17:53, it appeared that BU would cruise into the third with a three-goal lead, but Hryckowian answered just 58 seconds later. His shot went wide but caromed off the boards to his brother Dylan, who sent it back across to Justin for an open-net goal with Mathieu Caron (21 saves) out of position at 18:51 to cap a wild second period and give the Huskies life.
“Disappointed at the end of the second,” said Pandolfo. “You’re up 3-0, you shouldn’t give a goal up with a minute left. We got a little bit careless there.”
The Huskies cut the deficit to 3-2 when Hryckowian flipped a backhander from behind the net, the puck bouncing off the back of Caron’s head and into the goal. But Celebrini, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft, made sure the momentum was short-lived with his goal. BU, which captured the conference tournament last year with overtime victories over Providence and Merrimack, returns to TD Garden with a chance to defend its title.
“The response right away from Macklin was awesome to see,” said Pandolfo. “We put them away in the third. That’s what we’ve been trying to do when we have the lead, is to finish games off the right way.”
Northeastern, which was 19th in the PairWise and needed a win to keep its postseason hopes alive, concluded its season at 17-16-3. The Huskies entered the contest on a 10-3-1 run, but a brutal start to conference play that saw them drop seven in a row while battling injuries would be their undoing.
“I think the hardest part is I think we’re a team that should be playing in a couple of weeks, and that’s what’s disappointing” said coach Jerry Keefe. “Our start to the season in Hockey East was a disaster, quite frankly, and that put us in this situation.
“To get to where we got to, it just shows the leadership and the pride and the type of team we had. I thought we played well tonight. We just came up short.”
Boston College 5, UConn 4 — Jack Malone’s second goal of the game at 9:25 of the third period lifted the top-ranked Eagles (29-5-1) past the eighth seed Huskies (15-19-2) at Conte Forum. BC had a 4-1 lead after two periods but a goal from Jake Richard and two from Matthew Wood tied it 5:35 into the third. Jacob Fowler made 30 saves for BC, and Jacob Bengtsson added a goal and an assist. John Spetz had a goal and an assist for UConn. The Eagles will face UMass in the semifinals Friday at TD Garden at 4 p.m.
Maine 5, New Hampshire 0 — Bradly Nadeau and Josh Nadeau had two goals and two assists each to power the third-seeded Black Bears (23-10-2) to their first trip to TD Garden for the semifinals since 2012. Nolan Renwick added three assists, while Albin Boija needed only 18 saves for the shutout. Jakob Hellsten had 20 saves for the sixth-seeded Wildcats (20-15-1).
UMass 3, Providence 1 — Ryan Lautenbach scored 1:07 into the game and added an assist in the third period as the fifth-seeded Minutemen (20-12-3) upset the No. 4 Friars (18-13-4) at Schneider Arena to advance to the semifinal round. Ryan Ufko and Kenny Connors had the other UMass tallies, and Michael Hrabal made 27 saves. Hudson Malinoski scored with the extra skater on for the Friars with 5:10 to play, but the hosts couldn’t find another goal.
Staff and wire reports were used in this story.
Follow Andrew Mahoney @GlobeMahoney.