Seniors rally Terriers past Harvard, 6-5--UPDATED

#11 Terriers scored four times in the third period—three in a 2:09 span— to complete one of their most memorable third-period comebacks—perhaps the best since the DC Miracle in 2009—to defeat #4/5 Harvard, 6-5, at nearby Bright-Landry Hockey Center.  

Senior Ahti Oksanen, returning after a serious injury against Quinnipiac last month, scored the game-winner with 1:49 left in regulation, just 55 seconds after senior assistant captain Danny O’Regan’s second goal of the game knotted the score at five apiece. And just a minute earlier, senior captain Matt Grzelcyk, also returning from an injury, had brought BU within a goal with a power play blast.

It took the Terriers more than 30 minutes to shake off the rust of a 26-day layoff since that 4-1 win over Quinnipiac and it didn’t help that the Crimson came out flying. They outshot BU 18-2 in the opening period, but only scored once—a power play goal by Jimmy Vesey—thanks to some exceptional saves by Sean Maguire.

Senior assistant captain Matt Lane scored twice in the middle period, but each one was followed in short order by a Sean Malone goal, resulting in a 3-2 Harvard lead after two.

Jake Horton’s bad-angle goal early in the third extended the margin before O’Regan’s first, on a power play, brought BU within one again. At the exact mid-point of the period, Kyle Criscuolo scored from the crease to restore the two-goal margin. A critical Harvard penalty at 14:49 set the stage for BU to fashion its improbable comeback with Grzelcyk’s third goal of the season, O’Regan’s seventh and Oksanen’s 10^th, on a Lane feed, delivering the victory.

“When the game started out, we were terrible,” Head Coach Quinn said. “As the period went on, we went from terrible to awful. Then we closed the first period out with being less awful. Then when the second period started, we were bad. Then we got to not so bad. Then it got to OK and then it got to pretty good. Then in the third period, I just thought we played a lot better hockey. … We’ve been a resilient group all year. Just a great win.”

► Terriers are now 8-4-1 in games at the Bright-Landry Hockey Center.

► With his two goals, O’Regan moved ahead of his father, Tom O’Regan, on the all-time BU scoring list with 131. Lane, with 2G and 1A for his second three-point game in the past four games, also racked up his second consecutive two-goal game.

► All six goals were scored by seniors.

● GoTerriers.com recap and comprehensive box score

● Video highlights

● Post-game comments: Quinn

● Daily Free Press recap and Seniors Shine

● Boston Hockey Blog: Pluses & Minuses
● College Hockey News recap

● WEEI Hockey Blog recap

► BU officially announced roster additions Oskar Andrén and Erik Udahl.

SB Nation’s Jeff Cox previewed the second half of the season for each of the Hockey East teams.