The fourth Battle of Commonwealth Avenue of the season will be waged on Saturday night (7:30) on Causeway Street.
The No. 2 ranked and second seed Boston University advanced to the Hockey East title game with a 4-1 semifinal victory over Maine in the nightcap before a capacity crowd of 17,850 on Friday at the TD Garden.
The defending champion Terriers will look to secure their 11th Hockey East tournament title when they engage crosstown rival and No.1 ranked Boston College. The Eagles crushed UMass 8-1 in their semifinal opener.
The Eagles swept the regular season series but lost to the Terriers 5-4 in the Beanpot semifinal on Feb. 5. BU improved to 26-8-2 and 19-4-2 in Hockey East while the No. 7 ranked Black Bears dropped to 23-11-2 and 14-10-1.
“I am sure it is obviously a crazy atmosphere like it always is but we are going to be ready,” said sophomore center Ryan Greene, who led the Terriers with a pair of goals. “It is always exciting playing those guys and getting to play them in the Hockey East championship makes it more special. We will be up for it and ready to go.”
The Terriers completed a series sweep of the Black Bears with a pair of one-goal victories at Alfond Arena n November. The Terriers earned the No. 2 seed by going 6-0-1 after losing to Northeastern 4-3 in overtime in the Beanpot championship game on Feb. 12.
The Terriers atoned by beating the Huskies 4-2 in the Hockey East quarterfinals on March 16 at Agganis Arena to advance to their 27th semifinals. Maine advanced with a 5-0 quarterfinal win over New Hampshire.
The Terriers’ attack began gaining traction seven minutes into the opening period before going ahead 1-0 at 8:59. Sophomore right wing Quinn Hutson won a race to a ricochet off the end boards and relayed the puck to Greene in the slot. Greene one timed a wrister that beat Maine goalie Albin Boija stick side for his 10th of the season.
Maine gave BU goalie Mathieu Caron all the business he could handle during an extended onslaught in the final four minutes of the first. Maine had a 6-5 edge in shots on goal at the end of one.
Caron, a portal transfer from Brown, held up under similar blitz with Maine on the power play in the opening 1:47 of the second period. The Black Bears posted five unanswered shots on goal in the opening five minutes of the period.
“He has won a lot of hockey games for us,” said BU coach Jay Pandolfo. “He was excellent again tonight and I think playing in the Beanpot and playing in this environment helped him.”
BU caught a break when Maine junior center Nolan Renwick got lugged to the cooler for holding at 8:56. The Terriers took advantage and went up 2-0 with a nifty piece of power play cycling at 9:21.
Quinn Hutson set the play in motion with a dish to freshman center Macklin Celebrini, the Hockey East Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year. Celebrini fed the puck back to Lane Hutson, who fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle that beat Boija to the far post on the glove side.
Lane Huston, a Montreal draft pick and Hobey Baker finalist, notched his 13th of the season, good for third in the nation for goals by a blueliner.
BU had a goal by Shane Lachance at 4:27 of the third disallowed after a review showed the Terriers were offside on the play. Maine cut the lead to 2-1 on a power-play goal by senior captain Lynden Breen at 6:34. Breen’s ninth of the season juiced the sizable contingent of Maine supporters in the house.
“You think you are up 3-0 and then all of a sudden they take it away and then they score,” said Pandolfo. “But our guys do a lot talking on the bench this time of year and they hold each other accountable and it is a credit to our group.”
Greene’s second of the match put the Terriers up 3-1 at the end of a tic-tac-toe collaboration on the power play with Lachance and Celebrini at 10:43.