Hockey East Sunday Night Recap: Quinn Smith, Eagles pick up massive 2-1 overtime win at Merrimack

Boston College 2, Merrimack 1 (OT)

At a sold-out Lawler Arena in North Andover, Mass., the No. 4 Boston College Eagles posted a key 2-1 overtime victory over the No. 17 Merrimack Warriors to jump back into a first-place tie with New Hampshire in the Hockey East league standings with 28 points. Sophomore Quinn Smith scored the winning goal with 2:37 remaining in the extra session as he pounced on a rebound in front of Merrimack sophomore Sam Marotta (26 saves) to secure the win and give the Eagles a crucial season series victory in league play, by virtue of a 4-3 win on Nov. 16, 2012 in Chestnut Hill. The Fairfield, Conn. native, Smith has been on a tear of later as he has posted all nine of his points, including six goals, over the last nine games. BC took a 1-0 lead at the 6:32 mark as senior alternate captain Steven Whitney took a feed from junior Bill Arnold for the game's first goal and his 20th of the season to lead the offense, but Warrior junior Shawn Bates equalized just over six minutes later with a power-play strike off assists from rookies Ben Bahe and Vinny Scotti. With the win, the Eagles avenged their loss to the Warriors last Friday that saw sophomore Connor Toomey of the Warriors score the game-winner to take over first place in the conference at the time, marking the latest MC had held the lead into a Hockey East season. BC senior Parker Milner made 43 saves in the contest, but kept the Eagles in a deadlocked as he stopped sophomore Josh Myers on a breakaway and a second-chance opportunity around the 12-minute mark. Milner, a Pittsburgh, Pa. native, has eclipsed the 30-save plateau nine times this year. Both teams return to action on Tuesday as BC hosts UMass-Lowell and Merrimack travels to Boston University's Agganis Arena.

Joshua Kummins covers Hockey East for SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKummins.