Boston College didn’t need a trophy on the line to play bring its A-game to Causeway Street.
The No. 1 ranked Eagles improved to 21-5-1 with a 5-0 victory over Harvard in the Consolation Game of the 71st Beanpot Hockey Tournament on Monday night at the TD Garden. Harvard fell to 4-15-4.
BC poured 39 shots on the Harvard goal and had five different skaters light the lamp. Freshman goalie Jan Korec of Bratislava, Slovakia, made 19 saves and secured the shutout in his first career start.
“For us, you are disappointed you are in the early game but we knew it was still a very important game as far as pair-wise goes for the national picture,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “We stressed that a lot and I thought our team came out and played with some purpose.
“It wasn’t the game we wanted to be in, but they still had an intensity and a desire to do well.”
Brown elected to give freshman goaltender Jacob Fowler the night off. Fowler started 26 consecutive games and has logged 1,558:19 minutes. Senior Derek Mullahy of Scituate made his 12th start in net for Harvard.
“Fowler has had just an amazing season so it was hard to get Jan in there but he has looked great in practice,” said Brown. “We thought this was a great time to get him in and he looked solid in there and it was great to see.”
BC played most of the first period in the Harvard end, but Korec found himself briefly in the save business during a pair of Crimson power plays. The Eagles peppered Mullahy in the final two minutes and exited the period with an 8-3 edge in shots on goal.
“We didn’t get going offensively in the first period but we did have some good possession time,” said Brown. “We created a lot of O-zone time and the puck just didn’t go in.”
BC broke the scoreless deadlock at 12:00 of the second on a seeing-eye goal by freshman left wing Gabe Perreault. Ryan Leonard set up Perreault for a wrister from the left circle. Perreault’s shot rolled up and over Mullahy’s right shoulder and crossed the line before Harvard defenseman Matthew Morden could sweep it clear. The tally was Perreault’s 13th of the season.
BC put the game out of reach with two goals in the final minute of the second. Sophomore forward Oskar Jellvik redirected a cross from Cutter Gauthier for his 12th of the season at 19:05. Perreault set up Leonard for a sliding wrist shot from the low slot to make it 3-0 at 19:30 with his 16th of the season. BC outshot Harvard 20-6 in the frame.
“We felt if we stayed the course, we would get our chances and it opened up a bit in the second period,” said Brown. “We were pleased that we played the right way in the third period.”
BC went up 4-0 on a breakout rush down the right boards by defenseman Eamon Powell at 7:34 of the third period. Powell entered a circle and fired a high wrist shot that beat Mullahy stick-side for his third of the season. BC went up 5-0 at 15:22 when Will Smith finished a partial breakaway with a backhander for his 16th of the season.
“When you get smart players that can read each other that quickly you se the things that can happen,” said Brown.
