BC’s O’Brien realizes dream of coaching at ‘home’
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Bill O’Brien was officially introduced as the new head football coach at Boston College on Thursday in a move athletic director Blake James called a “monumental step.”
BC hasn’t won eight games in a season since 2009, and the hiring of a veteran NFL and college coach like O’Brien offers a harbinger of optimism moving forward. The overarching theme of the day was a return home for O’Brien, who grew up in the area and has a deep family history at Boston College.
“I went into coaching in 1993 when I got out of Brown,” O’Brien said. “I went into coaching [starting] at Brown, and I always dreamed about being the head coach at Boston College.”
O’Brien’s hire resonates locally and nationally with the commitment of Boston College to bring in a coach with such a significant pedigree.
Thursday’s news conference, which was packed with family members, former players and an outsize contingent of local media, stressed local ties, as O’Brien’s arrival at Boston College is a homecoming. He grew up in nearby Andover, graduated high school from St. John’s Prep in nearby Danvers and played at Brown in nearby Providence.
Amid a roll call of family members — and getting choked up when thanking his wife, Colleen — O’Brien expressed gratitude that his coaching journey brought him back to a job he had always wanted.
“My career has taken some twists and turns and taken me down roads I never could have imagined,” he said. “But as I stand here today, I couldn’t be more grateful that the road has finally taken me back home to Boston College.”
O’Brien comes to BC with two successful head-coaching stints on his résumé, as he capably guided Penn State through the grisly years in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sexual assault convictions. He also reached the NFL playoffs four times as the head coach of the Houston Texans.
He also has served as offensive coordinator at Alabama and with the New England Patriots.
O’Brien moved back to the Boston area last year for the job with the Patriots. When he took the offensive coordinator job at Ohio State last month, his family planned to stay in the Boston area, so when the Boston College job came open soon after, it marked a significant opportunity.
“I’m still kind of pinching myself,” Colleen O’Brien, who graduated from BC in 1992, told ESPN. “It doesn’t seem real. The past 10 days were kind of in a whirlwind, but we’ve talked about this place a lot, about this job a lot. And just to see it finally come to fruition, it’s pretty amazing.”
One son, Michael, is a college baseball player at nearby Tufts. Their other son, Jack, has a rare genetic brain malformation known as lissencephaly, which requires significant medical care. Part of the reason the O’Brien family wasn’t following Bill to Columbus was to stay close to nearby Boston Children’s Hospital for the quality of the care available for Jack.
Bill O’Brien thanked Ohio State coach Ryan Day in his remarks, saying he appreciated Day’s “patience and understanding” about O’Brien wanting to return home. The Buckeyes have since hired Chip Kelly as their new offensive coordinator.
O’Brien went 15-9 in his two seasons at Penn State, 2012 and 2013, calmly guiding the school and program through the lowest moment in school history. With the Texans, O’Brien went 52-48 during his tenure from 2014 to 2020, including four playoff bids in the five seasons between 2015 and 2019. He won playoff games in 2016 and 2019.
His tenure at Boston College comes at an interesting moment for the school and the athletic department. BC has 31 Division I sports and has seen only middling success in football and men’s basketball over the past 15 years.
The O’Brien hire looms as a harbinger of commitment from the school, which has upped the staff salary and support pool for O’Brien. One of the signs of those deeper pockets appeared after O’Brien’s news conference Thursday, when longtime friend and strength coach Craig Fitzgerald shook hands and said hello to the assembled.
BC hired Fitzgerald from Florida in the days after O’Brien’s hire.
O’Brien said that Fitzgerald was instrumental in “helping to keep that program together” at Penn State and that he has been appreciative of the financial commitment BC has given him to put together a strong staff. He said BC officials are “making things happen” so far. “We believe in toughness, hard work,” O’Brien said. “We believe in lifting weights. We believe in the science, but we know on the football field, we have to move people, especially up front. We have to tackle people. We have to sometimes run people over.”
James said the school’s investment into football has been led by the college president, Father William P. Leahy.
“It’s an investment that we’re continuing to make, to move up more and more,” James said. “At the same time, it’s consistent with who we are as an institution. So I don’t know where we would fall in the league, but I know Bill feels good about it, and if my coach feels good about it, I feel good about it. And again, we appreciate the institution helping us get to that point.”
O’Brien inherits a solid roster coming off a 7-6 season. That includes returning quarterback Thomas Castellanos — O’Brien has taken to calling him “Tommy” — and a strong offensive line let by veterans Ozzy Trapilo and Drew Kendall.
O’Brien said that the program’s identity will be on the offensive and defensive lines and that they’ll try to channel past generations of BC football, which has been known for dominant line play.
“We will not be out-toughed,” O’Brien said. “We will not be outcompeted.”
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Ryan S. Clark
LAS VEGAS — Just when it appeared that the Vegas Golden Knights finally found an opening in overtime, their chances of winning Game 2 were quickly shut down in controversial fashion.
It wasn’t that the Golden Knights were overlooking what it means to be in a 2-0 series hole following a 5-4 overtime loss Thursday to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals at T-Mobile Arena.
They were more concerned with what they saw, and what they didn’t see from referee Gord Dwyer just 17 seconds before Leon Draisaitl‘s game-winning goal gave the Oilers their first 2-0 series lead since 2017.
Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb was going toward for the puck when Edmonton winger Viktor Arvidsson‘s stick got between McNabb’s legs, which sent McNabb into the boards. The play wasn’t ruled a penalty, and it led to the Oilers eventually going into transition before Draisaitl converted a 2-on-1 chance for the winner.
“It’s pretty clear it’s a penalty,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “His stick is between McNabb’s legs, and he sends him headfirst into the boards. It’s a pretty clear-cut penalty in my eyes and I think everybody’s eyes, right? But that’s hockey. You don’t always get the calls.”
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was a bit more direct about what he saw on the McNabb play.
“Listen, Gord’s looking at it. He blew it. He missed the call,” Cassidy said. “I don’t know what else to say. It’s a can-opener trip, it’s a dangerous play, it’s all those things. But it didn’t get called, so you’ve got to keep playing.”
Cassidy said he didn’t have an immediate update on McNabb’s status for Game 3 on Saturday in Edmonton. If he were to miss Game 3, it would leave the Golden Knights without one of their most important players.
McNabb, who was part of their Stanley Cup-winning team in 2023, is one of their top-pairing options and also a crucial piece of a penalty kill that had a significant role in how the Golden Knights survived so late in overtime.
An urgently aggressive Golden Knights team kept pushing to start the first period before forward Victor Olofsson opened with his first-ever playoff goal on the power play in the first period. Three consecutive goals from Oilers trio Jake Walman, Vasily Podkolzin and Darnell Nurse gave them a 3-1 lead. Golden Knights forward William Karlsson scored late in the second to cut it to 3-2.
Oilers forward Evander Kane doubled the lead to 4-2 within the first two minutes of the third before Olofsson’s second, also on the power play, less than three minutes later again cut the lead to a single goal. The Golden Knights forced overtime when alternate captain and star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo fired a shot from distance with 8:02 remaining in regulation.
Vegas had two chances in the final 30 seconds, only to have them both stopped by Edmonton goaltender Calvin Pickard, who finished with 28 saves, before heading to overtime.
Olofsson had a chance at a game-winning hat trick with a point-blank chance with 18:45 remaining before Nurse’s stick stopped him from having a clean shot.
“Definitely had a lot of good looks, and I think we could have had a couple more goals,” Olofsson said of a Golden Knights team that finished with 19 high-danger scoring chances.
Natural Stat Trick’s metrics show that Vegas’ shot-share in overtime was 66.7%. But even in a period in which they controlled possession, there was a moment when they nearly lost their grip.
Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy received a five-minute major for cross-checking after his stick connected with Trent Frederic’s face. Roy appeared as if he was trying to play a puck in midair, only to then strike Frederic, which sent the Oilers on the power play.
The NHL’s No. 12 power-play unit in the regular season, the Oilers had a few chances on net but were either stopped by Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill or had their chances broken up by an aggressive forecheck that allowed them to go through unscathed.
With a pair of power-play goals already, the Golden Knights believed they could have added a third once McNabb went into the boards.
Instead? They watched the Oilers regroup, Draisaitl get on a 2-on-1 and beat Hill for the win.
“This one will sting,” Cassidy said. “But the positives tomorrow will be good. I felt that we outplayed the Oilers for the most part and deserved a better fate. How the guys look at that? If they take it as, ‘We just gotta carry that over’ — we both said we wanted to get better as the series went on and we were certainly better than Game 1. So, we’ll improve on today if we want to get back into it.”
Going back to their first campaign in the 2017-18 season, the Golden Knights have made the playoffs in all but one year. Throughout that time, they’ve been in a 2-0 series hole once, against the Colorado Avalanche in a second-round series back in 2021.
The Golden Knights would come back to win that series with four consecutive victories.
“I liked our game today; we had a lot of good chances,” said Stone, who is one of nine players who remain from that team in 2021. “We put up four goals, and usually when you score four goals, you’re going to win a playoff game. Unfortunately, we didn’t. You can’t get down, you got to go to Edmonton tomorrow, get ready for Saturday night’s game and put your best foot forward and get a win.”
With two games in the books for three of four second-round series, trends have begun to emerge — some not so good for the teams that many picked to make long runs this postseason.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are in a 2-0 hole, returning home to host the Toronto Maple Leafs for Game 3 (7 p.m. ET, TNT). In Friday’s nightcap, the Dallas Stars will look for another road victory over the Winnipeg Jets (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT).
Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Thursday’s games and the three stars of Thursday from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Toronto Maple Leafs at Florida Panthers
Game 3 | 7 p.m. ET | TNT
In their franchise history, the Maple Leafs have won 84% of their best-of-seven series when going up 2-0. The Panthers are 0-5 in best-of-seven series when trailing 0-2.
This series features the two highest-scoring lines at 5-on-5 this postseason: Eetu Luostarinen–Anton Lundell–Brad Marchand (eight) and Matthew Knies–Auston Matthews–Mitch Marner (seven, including the game-winning goal in Game 2).
William Nylander scored a goal for the third straight game, and he has six goals and 13 points this postseason. He is the second Maple Leaf of the past 30 years to score five goals in a three-game span — joining Alexander Mogilny from 2003 — and the first Maple Leaf since Doug Gilmour in 1993 to have 13 or more points in the first eight games of a postseason.
With a goal in Game 2, Marchand now has 32 postseason points against the Leafs in his career, which is fourth most all time. He trails Gordie Howe (53), Alex Delvecchio (35) and Henri Richard (33).
Stepping in for injured Anthony Stolarz, Joseph Woll saved 25 of 28 shots for Toronto. His counterpart, Sergei Bobrovsky, allowed four goals on 20 shots and has allowed nine total goals through Games 1 and 2. That is tied for the second most he has allowed in a two-game span in his playoff career.
Dallas Stars at Winnipeg Jets
Game 2 | 9:30 p.m. ET | TNT
After a win in Game 1, the Stars are now -360 favorites to win the series, while the Jets are +280, according to ESPN BET. The win for Dallas snapped an eight-game losing streak in Game 1s.
Mikko Rantanen provided all the offense that Dallas needed in the 3-2 win, scoring his second single-period hat trick in as many games. He set a record for the most consecutive team goal contributions (goal or assist) in Stanley Cup playoff history, with 12; the previous mark was nine by Mario Lemieux in 1992.
Game 1 was Jason Robertson‘s first game back after sustaining an injury in the final game of the regular season. He played 13:44, including 1:00 on the power play, and registered one shot.
The opening clash was also Mark Scheifele‘s return to the ice, though his absence was just since April 30 and Game 5 against the Blues in Round 1. Scheifele scored a goal and registered seven shots in 22:36 of ice time.
Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck and Dallas’ Jake Oettinger are considered the two leading candidates to be Team USA’s goaltender at the 2026 Olympics. Oettinger took the first round of the head-to-head battle, saving 29 of 31 shots and getting the W; Hellebuyck saved 21 of 24 shots in defeat.
Öcal’s three stars from Thursday
Wilson was key in the Capitals tying up their series against the Canes. It was the first time he had a playoff game with at least two points, two hits, two blocked shots and three shots on goal.
Draisaitl scored the game winner in overtime as Edmonton takes a 2-0 series lead on Vegas. He joins Esa Tikkanen (from 1991) as the only players in franchise history with multiple OT goals in a single postseason.
Eichel registered three assists in the OT loss to Edmonton, and he now has eight points in his past five games (one goal, seven assists). That ties his own mark for most points in a five-game span in his postseason career.
Thursday’s recaps
Washington Capitals 3, Carolina Hurricanes 1
Series tied 1-1 | Game 3 Saturday
After a loss to the Canes in Game 1, the Capitals looked like a different team as veteran winger Tom Wilson “set the tone,” according to Alex Ovechkin. Connor McMichael started the scoring at 2:16 of the second period, and John Carlson put the Caps up 2-0 with a power-play goal near the start of the third on an assist by Wilson and Dylan Strome. Shayne Gostisbehere pulled Carolina within one with a power-play goal of his own, but Wilson finished them off with an empty-netter with a minute left. Full recap.
0:52
John Carlson buries Caps’ second goal of the night
John Carlson sends the Capitals fans into a frenzy after a beautiful goal early in the third period.
Edmonton Oilers 5, Vegas Golden Knights 4 (OT)
EDM leads 2-0 | Game 3 Saturday
Seeking a win to tie up the series, Vegas was on the board first with a goal from Victor Olofsson at 8:42 of the first period. Edmonton, however, charged back with three straight goals in the second period (from Jake Walman, Vasily Podkolzin and Darnell Nurse), before William Karlsson drew the Knights within one at 18:10. Evander Kane put the Oilers back up by two at 1:52 of the third, before Vegas rallied with goals by Olofsson and Alex Pietrangelo to send the game to OT. Leon Draisaitl tallied the game winner, giving the Oilers a 5-4 win and a 2-0 series lead heading home to Alberta. Full recap.
3:32
Oilers prevail in OT to take 2-0 series lead
Scott Van Pelt recaps the Oilers’ thrilling 5-4 overtime win over the Golden Knights to take a 2-0 series lead.
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