BU wins overtime thriller at Madison Square Garden.

By Arielle Aronson/DFP Press

Madison Square Garden is the perfect stage for exciting hockey games, and the tilt between the No. 15 Boston University men’s hockey team and the No. 17 Cornell University men’s hockey team did not disappoint. For the second consecutive time, Cornell and BU took Red Hot Hockey into overtime, but the Terriers came out the 2-1 victors by virtue of junior defenseman Max Nicastro’s slapper that bounced off senior forward Ross Gaudet and into the net with 2:12 left in the overtime period.

Cornell goaltender Andy Iles entered the game on the heels of three consecutive shutouts, but BU ended that run 202 minutes and 28 seconds into the streak with Iles handcuffed on a 5-on-3 kill for Cornell.

Sophomore defenseman Adam Clendening was stationed on the right point and passed to junior assistant captain Alex Chiasson on the left point. The two then switched spots, causing the Cornell defense to scramble to change its coverage. Chiasson put a slapper on net that bounced out to a waiting Clendening, who buried it from the left point for his first goal of the season 11:07 into the first period.

Cornell began pressuring the Terriers in the second period. Midway through the period, Cornell brought the crowd to its feet when it dominated play in its offensive zone for at least a minute while the Terriers struggled to keep up and failed to gain any control over play. The Big Red whiffed on several chances, helping BU maintain its 1-0 lead at the end of the period.

Cornell finally found its way onto the scoreboard 11:06 into the third period, when Cornell’s Sean Whitney beat Nieto up high in the zone and got a shot on Millan, drawing him out of the net. Locke Jillson found the rebound and shot it at the net, where it bounced off sophomore forward Charlie Coyle’s skate and into the net, tying the game at 1-1.

With four minutes remaining in the third, Cornell appeared to score when a puck bounced off the far boards and then hit Millan’s back and bounced into the net, but the whistle blew before the puck went into the net. A lengthy review confirmed the “no goal” call.