Tristan Fraser's overtime winner lifts UConn past Boston College, 4-3

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Tristan Fraser kept UConn’s season alive — and with it, his own career — with an overtime game-winner to lift the 4-seed Huskies past the 4-seed Boston College Eagles in the Hockey East semifinal on Friday night at TD Garden.

Fraser fired a shot into traffic that bounced off a BC body in front and found the back of the net to secure the victory just 1:18 into the extra period.

UConn will take on 8-seed Merrimack in the championship game on Saturday.

Trey Scott, Ethan Whitcomb and Mike Murtagh also scored for the Huskies. BC dominated the special teams battle with a 2-5 effort on the power play while the Huskies went 0-4 on the man-advantage. In goal, Tyler Muszelik stopped 22 of 25 shots.

UConn got the first power play of the night just 1:12 in, which set the tone for the opening period. Carlin Dezainde and Whitcomb piled up back-to-back chances on the back post just after the penalty expired but BC goalie Louka Cloutier turned both away.

Just over a minute later, the Huskies went on the penalty kill after a tripping call against Viking Gustafsson Nyberg. While they spent a lot of time in their defensive zone, they held on to preserve the tie.

The Eagles had another chance to go ahead on the man-advantage in the latter half of the period. They thought they scored quickly, only to have it immediately waved off. Postgame, BC coach Greg Brown said the official lost sight of the puck and blew the play dead.

With 22 seconds left on the power play, the Eagles took a penalty of their own. It didn’t ultimately make a difference, though. UConn failed to record a shot with the extra skater.

The Huskies piled on their third penalty of the period with 20 seconds left. After the intermission, BC finally made them pay. Andre Gasseau found Dean Letourneau on the back side and the sophomore buried a one-timer to put the Eagles ahead, 1-0.

Less than a minute later, UConn responded. Scott fired a seemingly harmless shot on goal from the top of the circles that Cloutier let slip five-hole. That gift tied the game at 1-1.

UConn handed the lead right back, though. Tom Messineo took the Huskies’ fourth penalty of the day with a hold and Letourneau converted on the power play for the second time to put BC back on top, 2-1.

Once again, UConn didn’t wait long to respond. 3:19 later, Murtagh dropped a pass to Whitcomb on the doorstep, who fired it into the twine to make it 2-2.

The Huskies tempted fate by taking a fifth penalty — their third cross-check — but came up with the kill to preserve the deadlock. That score held into the second intermission.

Out of the break, UConn dominated possession. Its forecheck pinned the Eagles in their own zone for long stretches. Finally, Murtagh broke through. After picking up the puck at his own blue line, he flew up the ice, turned the corner on the defense and beat Cloutier five-hole to give UConn its first lead of the night, 3-2.

It didn’t last long. 1:45 onwards, Ryan Conmy uncorked a missile from the top of the circles that beat Muszelik and tied it back up at 3-3 with 5:47 remaining.

Neither team found a winner in the final minutes, sending the game to overtime.

Just 78 seconds into the bonus period, Fraser sent UConn through to the championship for the second straight season.

With the win, UConn records its sixth 20-win season in program history and fourth in the last five years. The Huskies and Warriors will each go for their first Hockey East tournament title. It’ll be the first time since 1988 that there will be a guaranteed first-time champion in the league.

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