No. 10 men’s hockey struggled to hang on against No. 5 Boston College in the second game of their home-and-home series. With a final score of 10-1, the Eagles proved how hard they’re willing to fight for the top spot in Hockey East standings.

After last night’s loss against BC, NU head coach Jim Madigan emphasized the importance of the Huskies staying in the Eagles’ net. However, tonight’s game did not see any improvement there. In fact, BC almost doubled NU in number of shots, with 37 compared to only 23 across all three periods.

During the game, the Huskies couldn’t find any consistency on defense, even in net. Each of their three netminders saw time in the crease as Madigan looked to stop the bleeding in a game well out of reach by the middle of the second.

An early goal by BC senior forward Graham McGee at 4:14 set the stage for the rest of the game. Throughout the first period, NU (17-10-3, 10-8-1 HEA) managed to maintain their one goal deficit but struggled to work offensively in BC’s (21-8-1, 14-6-0 HEA) zone.

Heading into the second period, the Huskies seemed both unable to handle passes as well as defend their zone. At 1:05, a goal by BC freshman forward Alex Newhook gave his team a two goal lead.

The second period saw five more BC goals. After the first two, scored by sophomore forward Marc McLaughlin and junior forward Logan Hutsko, NU fifth-year senior goaltender Craig Pantano was taken off the ice and replaced by freshman Connor Murphy, the second of three goalies NU would play. In 27 minutes, Pantano had stopped 16 shots, but had surrendered four goals in the process.

The Eagles played with extreme control and rarely made a mistake. After a slashing penalty on senior forward Biagio Lerario gave BC a power play at 8:15, another goal was scored, this time by freshman forward Matt Boldy.

Just three minutes later, BC freshman forward Mike Hardman capitalized on a lack of Husky resistance with another goal, pushing the score to 6-0 in favor of BC.

At 15 minutes, McLaughlin shot at the Northeastern net, but was met by a save from Murphy. However, the puck moved back out toward McLaughlin who was able to net it back in behind Murphy.

BC was determined not to let the Huskies get anywhere near freshman goaltender Spencer Knight. However, at 17:15, sophomore forward Matt Thomson caught Knight off guard with the first goal of his career, sending the score to 7-1 as the second period ended.

Boldy came in hot as the third period began, scoring another goal for the Eagles at 2:19.

BC senior defenseman Ben Finkelstein scored a 10:44 goal after he spun around NU junior forward Zach Solow and five-holed Murphy with a backhander. Immediately following the ninth goal for the Eagles, Murphy, who had a brutal outing with five goals surrendered and just nine saves, was subbed out and replaced by senior Curtis Frye, and Knight was spelled by freshman Jack Moffatt, raising the goalie count of the game to five.

Frye, despite being a senior, was making his Husky debut. Unfortunately, it didn’t go particularly well. He saw just three shots in nine minutes, surrendering a goal on one of them.

Some rough play on the ice at 13:26 caused four players to face 10-minute majors. Senior forward Graham McPhee and Finkelstein from the Eagles, while freshman forward Neil Shea and Lerario were all ejected from the game due to misconduct.

Less than a minute later, BC junior forward Aapeli Räsänen scored BC’s final goal of the night with a shorthanded shot, making the final score 10-1.

As the Huskies attempt to recover from being swept by BC, they will prepare for two more weeks off Hockey East games as the playoffs approach. While currently holding seventh place, they hope to improve their standing after their games against the Vermont Catamounts Feb. 28 and 29 with a 7 p.m. start for both.