BC’s Johnny Gaudreau stumps Terriers in 5-1 drubbing

When Boston College forward Johnny Gaudreau carried the puck through the slot and around the left side of the net, all of the eyes in the rink shifted to the right side where the diminutive forward was expected to emerge. Gaudreau, who only stands at 5-foot-8, disappeared behind the net for a second, and in the blink of an eye the red goal light flashed with Eagles’ forward Bill Arnold raising his hands in the air.

Gaudreau had done the unexpected — something he is remarkably good at doing — and curled a pass to the side of the net he was coming from. With every player on the ice looking for him to attempt a wraparound, he flipped the puck onto Arnold’s tape, where he had all the time in the world to snap the puck into a gaping net.

“I think he is the only player I’ve ever played with that would know to not shoot that on a mini-breakaway there and take it behind the net, curl and throw it back out and it was a wide open net,” Arnold said. “It is the easiest goal you are ever going to score. It was just a tremendous play by him.”

The assist was one of three points that Gaudreau had in No. 8 BC’s 5-1 beatdown of the No. 17 Boston University men’s hockey team at Agganis Arena Friday night, and it was the type of play that only an elite player makes.

NHL fans know players like Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins can weave through defenses and pull off dekes that leave defenders cross-eyed. Gaudreau, who was a Hobey Baker finalist last season, is that type of elite playmaker at the collegiate level.

“He’s just a great college player,” said BU coach David Quinn. “He’s very, very dangerous every time he has the puck. And if you don’t get to him quickly, and if you don’t play through him, you’re going to suffer. We certainly suffered tonight because of that.”

With the goal and two assists he notched Friday night, the Carneys Point, N.J., native jumped ahead of Providence College’s Ross Mauermann, Northeastern University’s Kevin Roy and Mike Szmatula for the lead in points in the conference. He is also tied for the Hockey East lead in goals with nine on the season.

For BU, though, watching Gaudreau dance around the offensive zone was something it has not seen much of this season. The Terriers have struggled to put pucks in opposing nets this year, in part due to the fact that they do not appear to have that type of impact forward on their roster at the moment.

BU’s offense this season has come from its defensemen, as sophomore Ahti Oksanen (nine points) and senior Garrett Noonan (eight points) lead the team in scoring. Junior center Cason Hohmann and freshman winger Robbie Baillargeon are tied for the team lead in scoring among forwards with seven points apiece. If one were to combine their point totals, they would be tied for as many points as Gaudreau has scored through the first eight games of the season, and they would have three fewer goals.

The Terriers are eighth in Hockey East with 2.44 goals per game, which is in part due to their lack of scoring depth. The Terriers have only gotten three even strength goals from players who were playing on the bottom two lines all season.

Without the offensive depth, the burden falls upon the top six forwards to score goals. However, even that is not happening with regularity, as sophomores Danny O’Regan and Matt Lane lead the team with only three goals on the year.

BU has looked like it is missing a player like Gaudreau who can take over a game offensively and spark what has proven to be a rather limited offense. The Terriers have scored one goal in four of their last five games. Not including their 7-3 blowout over the University of Wisconsin, BU is averaging less than two goals per contest.

Friday night, when BU watched Gaudreau take charge and carry the Eagles to an easy victory, Quinn watched a player in maroon and gold do what he has been looking for his forwards to do— play with confidence and be ready to make a play.

“If you’re going to create offense, you’ve got to move the puck quickly, you’ve got to be ready when the puck comes to you,” Quinn said. “You can’t let it surprise you. You’ve got to be ready to shoot it, and we’re not there yet.”