By Jason Mastrodonato, News Staff
Boston College’s 5-4 win in Friday night’s Hockey East semifinal at the TD Garden left the Eagles with a one-goal win.
But as Northeastern head coach Greg Cronin said after the game, it was more than one specific goal that left the Huskies heading back to Huntington Avenue without a conference title for the 23rd straight year.
“We weren’t really a goal short,” he said. “We were a period short.”
The Huskies jumped out to a 1-0 lead early in the first, but a wrap-around goal from BC’s Brian Gibbons tied things up three minutes later.
The second period is what could haunt Cronin and his squad for the off-season. The Eagles converted two of three power play chances and the Huskies went 0-for-2 with the extra man.
For the game, BC was 3-for-6 and NU was 2-for-7.
“Giving up three power play goals in a game is a recipe for disaster,” Cronin said. “I was really disappointed with that. If we would have done a better job killing penalties the two power play goals would have been enough.”
The Huskies were down 5-2 with three minutes remaining, and scored two within the game’s final moments, but it was too late as BC advanced to the Hockey East title game for the sixth time in seven years.
