UPDATED: No. 18 Terriers overcome three-goal deficit to defeat Providence

With less than two minutes left in the second period, freshman wing Robbie Baillargeon and sophomore center Danny O’Regan teamed up to score easily the nicest goal of the No. 18 Boston University men’s hockey team’s season. As O’Regan and Baillargeon completed the play, however, they gave the Terriers something more than a clip for the highlight reel.

They capped off a three-goal second period against No. 3 Providence College (4-1-1, 0-1 Hockey East), and evened out the score after the Friars took an early lead in the first frame.

With that momentum on their backs, the Terriers (4-3, 2-0 Hockey East) ultimately came back to defeat Providence, 4-3, Friday evening at Agganis Arena.

“To respond the way we did certainly speaks a lot to our character, to our will and our leadership,” said BU coach David Quinn.

The Friars hopped on the board early after taking over the Terriers’ two power-play opportunities. Just 16 seconds after getting onto its first power play of the game, junior wing Evan Rodrigues was called for interference. Providence then hopped on the board during the Terriers’ second time with the man-advantage after BU gave up the puck on the blue line.

Providence center Ross Mauermann sped down the ice after picking up the puck, giving the Friars a three-on-two opportunity that BU could not handle. Mauermann sent the puck over to defenseman Steven Shamanski, who notched it behind sophomore netminder Matt O’Connor for a shorthanded goal and the 1-0 lead.

Mauermann found his way onto the stat sheet once again about three minutes later when he ripped a slapshot after he was left wide open in the slot. His shot sailed through traffic and by O’Connor into the top-right corner to give the Friars a 2-0 advantage.

The Friars put up their third and final goal of the period after senior captain Garrett Noonan gave up the puck to winger Brandon Tanev, who then broke away from the BU defense and deked out O’Connor for his second goal of the season.

“Coach got on us pretty good,” said sophomore wing Matt Lane about the atmosphere of the locker room after the first. “We knew we weren’t playing up to potential, and we knew we had to pick it up, and that’s what we did.”

Although the Terriers trailed Providence in nearly every category after the first, BU changed the momentum of the game as it took control of the second frame.

Less than seven minutes into the period, the Terriers got on the board after sophomore wing Matt Lane pushed the puck to the front of the net from behind Providence’s goal. Freshman center Nick Roberto then ricocheted the puck off of Providence netminder Jon Gillies’ pad over toward Sam Kurker. The sophomore wing then shoved the puck into the left side of the goal under Gillies’ leg.

Kurker’s goal was just the beginning, however, as the Terriers followed it up with their first successful power play of the night. After giving the Friars a lead on its most recent opportunity with the man advantage, BU controlled the puck in Providence’s zone. With Friar defenseman Kevin Hartin the box for tripping, sophomore defenseman Ahti Oksanen dished the puck up to Lane. The Rochester, N.Y., native then snuck a shot by Gillies to cut the Friar lead down to one.

Then with the final two minutes ticking away in the period, BU completed the comeback on the passing play where O’Regan sent it over to Baillargeon, who then tossed a near-perfect pass back to O’Regan right in front of the goal.

“I thought we did a great job of going to the net,” Quinn said. “I thought the second and third period we did a good job using all five guys in the offensive zone. Our D were more involved in the offensive zone. There was just a lot of good things in the second and third period, and hopefully we can build on it.”

With an evened out score in tow, the Terriers kept the momentum going in the third as they jumped out to a 4-3 lead just over five minutes into the period. For the second time in the game, O’Regan found the back of the net. This time, however, the goal did not come off of a nice pass. First, senior captain Patrick MacGregor took a shot from the right circle that Gillies blocked. Baillargeon picked up the rebound and hit it off of Gillies’ pad. The netminder did not stop the rebound from bouncing out to O’Regan, who put it into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

The last time the Terriers overcame a three goal deficit to win the game was during the 2012 Hockey East quarterfinals, when BU came back to defeat the University of New Hampshire.

“I just think they were sick and tired of getting punched in the face — I don’t mean that literally, obviously,” Quinn said. “Just, we were getting manhandled, and at some point in time, self-pride has to kick in, and I think that’s what happened.

“They’re all Division I athletes, they’re all elite athletes. I think they get tired of getting smacked around, and you can keep taking it, or you can fight back. I thought we fought back in the second and third period.”