With just over 39 minutes before puck drop, Mikhail Yegorov left the tunnel by himself.
The 6-foot-5 goaltender hulked his way around the Conte Forum ice ensnared in a chorus of jeers from the impatient Boston College student section.
While seemingly harmless, the debuting freshman’s lap around the rink was the difference in the 297th Battle of Comm. Ave.
“This kid’s excited to play his first hockey game, for warm-ups,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said postgame. “They open the door and then they close it on him, and they leave him out there. The guy can’t tell him, you can’t go and get him back off the ice.”
The Terriers were assessed a two-minute minor for delaying the game, breaking warmup regulations as Yegorov took the ice too early. Boston College began the game on a power play that Quinn Hutson served, and 24 seconds later, the Eagles netted the game-winning goal.
Pandolfo froze, deciding how to carefully word his response when asked about the call.
“It’s a joke that that’s how the game starts,” Pandolfo said through gritted teeth. “That’s not how these games should start. Come on, really, this is how we’re going to start a BU-BC game? Here’s a power play. Again, it’s in the rule book, so it’s my fault. I’ll take responsibility.”
Yegorov didn’t allow a goal in the rest of his debut, dominating with 23 saves on several high-leverage and unabated chances by BC. But the Terriers’ offense just couldn’t crack goaltender Jacob Fowler, and one pregame skate cost BU (13-9-1, 9-5-1 Hockey East) in a 2-0 loss to its cross-town rivals.
With the weekend sweep, the No. 1 Eagles (18-4-1, 11-3-1) take firm control of Hockey East’s No. 1 spot.
Yegorov, who enrolled at Boston University four days ago, still donned his Omaha Lancers helmet and creamsicle pads that clashed with the scarlet on the Terriers’ retro sweaters.
The 18-year-old posted a .912 save percentage in the USHL this season and was now tasked with one of college hockey’s most hostile environments in one of the most important games of the season.
“The kid battled, man. He played really well,” Pandolfo said. “In this environment, he’s never seen it, so I figured it’s actually less nervous not knowing about it. He’s a confident kid. He was excited about it. I’m just really happy with the way he played tonight.”
Pandolfo did not comment on the state of BU’s goaltender room moving forward.
After the initial power-play goal by Teddy Stiga, the Terriers were undaunted.
BU’s top-five power play had an early chance to respond when BC took a too-many-men call at 2:12, but nothing came of it.
The Terriers started to settle in on offense and their best look of the period went to Greene, who clanged the puck off the right pipe during a power play. The Terriers had multiple opportunities on the rush, but Fowler remained a code too difficult to crack.
“We couldn’t find a way on the power play to score, which we needed. We couldn’t find a way to score 5-on-5 two games in a row, so just got to bear down a little bit more. We missed the net a lot on some quality chances,” Pandolfo said.
The Terriers made a huge confidence-building penalty kill at 16:12 when Gavin McCarthy took his second penalty of the night — his 42nd and 43rd penalty minutes on the season.
While the score held 1-0 in favor of the Eagles, BU put on one of its strongest periods of the season.
BU started the second period with energy, especially on defense. Cole Hutson anchored the defense all evening, disrupting pucks and making the Eagles’ offense uncomfortable.
BU’s Cole Eiserman, Quinn Hutson and Jack Hughes broke free for a 3-on-1 early in the period, but no passes and a block by BC’s Eamon Powell ended the opportunity.
Yegorov put on a hallmark performance later in the period when Leonard was all alone with the goaltender. He shifted to his backhand, but Yegorov kicked his right leg out to save it. The rebound found forward Oskar Jellvik and the freshman made a second save before saving a one-timer from Andre Gasseau on the other side.
The most energetic sequence of the night followed when Gabe Perreault and Stiga had a 2-on-0, but Yegorov staved it off. BU then flipped to a 2-on-0 of its own, but Fowler made the save.
“We all know he’s a pretty good goalie,” Pandolfo said. “We couldn’t find a way on the power play to score, which we needed. We couldn’t find a way to score five on five two games in a row, so just kind of bear down a little bit more. We missed the net a lot on some quality chances.”
The score was 1-0 BC at the end of the second, and with 20 minutes remaining, two top-10 offensive production teams were entrenched in a goaltender war.
“He’s a good goalie. I think he’s proved that,” Pandolfo said. “He makes the saves. That’s what he was doing. He’s solid. There’s no surprise.”
BC nearly took a two-goal lead early in the third when Greene turned the puck over in the defensive zone, leaving Yegorov all alone. It proved no problem for the freshman.
Then, Eiserman did something no Terrier had done all night — beat Fowler with his initial move on a rush — but his backhand surged wide left.
Yegorov was pulled at 18:36 of the third, and Leonard broke away to close the game 2-0 and sweep the series for the Eagles.
“We played well enough tonight to get some points out of this one, but just couldn’t find a way,” Pandolfo said. “We can build off this. If we play that way, we’re going to be in every game, we’re going to win a lot of games down the stretch here, so that’s what we can take out of this.
