UConn downed by Boston College, 5-2

UConn men’s hockey’s five-game winning streak came to an end with a 5-2 loss at Boston College on Friday night. The Huskies fell behind 2-0 in the first period, came back to tie it early in the middle stanza, then gave up three unanswered goals.

Ryan Tattle and Kaden Shahan scored for UConn. Tyler Muszelik struggled in net, allowing two soft goals in the opening frame en route to a 24-28 (.857) night.

The Huskies were outplayed for most of the contest. BC held a 29-23 edge on shots and won the special teams battle 2-0.

UConn struggled to do much right in the opening period. The Eagles dominated possession, owning a 13-7 edge in shots, the Huskies took two penalties and Muszelik allowed a pair of easy ones.

The Eagles scored the opener on the power play when James Hagens fired a relatively harmless shot on goal. Muszelik made the initial save but couldn’t hang onto it and let it slip into the back of the net.

Three minutes later, Hagens sent another puck towards the frame that Muszelik whiffed on with his glove. It tucked under the bar to give the hosts a 2-0 lead, which held into the first intermission.

UConn answered quickly out of the break. Jake Richard forced a turnover just inside the blue line and eventually found Tattle, who scored just 31 seconds into the period. 92 seconds later, Shahan snapped a seven-goal goalless drought to make it 2-2.

Soon after, the Huskies had a chance to take their first lead on their first power play of the night, but couldn’t convert.

In the final minutes of the middle stanza, BC took advantage of the extra skater. UConn’s penalty kill couldn’t clear the puck and Hagens capped off his hat trick with a one-time blast from the far side. The Eagles took a 3-2 lead into the final period.

Boston College reasserted control in the third and extended the advantage back to two with 8:31 left to play. UConn got caught watching the puck and left Landan Resendes wide open for a one-timer in the slot.

The Huskies nearly answered back immediately when Shahan got behind the defense on a breakaway but his shot hit the post and stayed out.

UConn tried to pull the goalie with 2:30 remaining and immediately gave up an empty-netter to end any hopes of a comeback. After the final buzzer, Joey Muldowney received a five-minute major and game misconduct for an incident involving a BC player.

With the loss, the Huskies fall to 17-8-4 overall and 11-6-2 in Hockey East. They also fall into third place in the league standings, one point behind the Eagles. Next, UConn will try to salvage a weekend split when it wraps up the series on Saturday at PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford.

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