Ryan Leonard has had more multi-goal games in the past three weeks than he has had games with zero goals. The Washington Capitals’ top prospect added to that ledger on Friday night as he struck twice in Boston College’s 5-3 victory over the number New Hampshire Wildcats.
Leonard’s two tallies helped push the Eagles to their 11th straight win in Hockey East play. That marks the longest winning streak in the conference in over a decade, since the 2012-13 Eagles team won 12 in a row.
The 2023 first-round draft selection kicked off the game’s scoring with some individual excellence after receiving a feed from Oskar Jellvik at the New Hampshire blueline. Outnumbered four-to-two by defenders, Leonard declined to dump the puck to the corner and instead decided to take on all four Wildcats by himself.
Leonard froze the first defender with a hesitation move and then pushed the puck through multiple poke checks into the slot. From there, he was able to get off his signature hard wrist shot while simultaneously falling to the ice. The quick snap shot fooled goaltender Jakob Hellsten and beat him glove side.
With the game tied 3-3 with just 3:11 remaining in regulation, Leonard grabbed his second of the night. The marker came on Boston College’s first power play of the game and ended up being the game-winner after New Hampshire unsuccessfully challenged it due to what they believed was an undetected hand pass.
Cutter Gauthier, who had two goals of his own on Friday, found Leonard with a cross-ice feed as the Eagles caught New Hampshire off-guard with a quick zone entry after a penalty-kill clear. Leonard corralled the puck, went to one knee, and fired an absolute rocket to the top shelf over Hellsten’s shoulder.
Leonard extended his point streak to 16 games with the multi-goal performance and now has nine goals in his last five games. In 32 games with BC, he has recorded 47 total points (25g, 22a), ranking fifth all-time in goals by a Boston College freshman.
Former NHLer Brian Gionta currently holds the school’s all-time record in that category after potting 30 goals in 40 games back during the 1997-98 season. Leonard will have two more regular season matchups against New Hampshire and Merrimack as well as postseason play in the Hockey East Tournament and the NCAA Tournament to try and track that record down.
Boston College will next hit the ice against the Wildcats on Sunday for Senior Night at their home rink, Conte Forum.
