NEW YORK, N.Y. — On the biggest stage in the Big Apple, just a few blocks from Broadway, neither the No. 7/8 men’s hockey team nor its longtime rival Boston University could end 60 theater-filled minutes with a win. In the rematch of the Red Hot Hockey game at Madison Square Garden in 2007, Cornell built a 3-1 lead going into the third period, but BU scored a 6-on-4 goal with 51 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game at 3. After five minutes of overtime, the game was still knotted at 3, sending the sold-out crowd of 18,200 fans home without a sense of closure.

“It was a nail biter from start to finish,” said senior captain Colin Greening, who had an assist in the game.

Senior Blake Gallagher scored what looked to be the game-winner, a power play goal on a backdoor shot in the second period, but it was sophomore Locke Jillson who had a moment in the spotlight on the biggest stage of his career. With BU pressing in Cornell’s zone just more than five minutes into the first period, junior Patrick Kennedy snagged a loose puck and sent it to Jillson who was camped out on the blue line. Jillson, one of the team’s fastest skaters, streaked unopposed down the ice and beat BU’s goalie Grant Rollheiser to put the Red up, 2-0.

The Terriers (4-7-2) are the defending national champions, but graduated several of their best players, some now skating in the NHL, after last year’s title. Time after time, BU’s skaters sent the puck towards Cornell’s (6-2-1, 5-2-0 ECAC Hockey) net, either via passes or low-percentage shots from the outside, as if they expected last year’s stars to finish the job. The Terriers outshot Cornell, 35-17, but the Red’s senior goalie Ben Scrivens had one of his best games of the season and finished with 32 saves while dealing with the near-constant pressure from BU’s offense. As a sophomore two years ago, Scrivens looked blinded by the lights in the Garden and allowed five goals, but on Saturday, he was poised and made numerous impressive saves.Red Hot traffic jam: Senior goalie Ben Scrivens made 32 saves on the night, but allowed the tying goal from Chris Connolly with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.

“The only thing that’s different is the stands,” Scrivens said of his mentality heading into this matchup at the Garden. “It’s just another game.”

BU’s only even-strength goal was off a pass by Nick Bonino, leading a 2-on-1 rush. Officially, the score was unassisted, but Bonino’s pass glanced off senior defenseman Brendon Nash’s stick and past Scrivens to close the gap to 1 4:04 into the third period.

“If we do that 100 times in practice it’ll never happen, but it happened one time in a game,” Scrivens said.

Things got testy late in the third period; sophomore Sean Whitney — who opened the scoring with his first career goal in the first period — and BU’s David Warsofsky got into a scuffle behind Cornell’s goal and both were sent to the penalty box for roughing. Less than a minute later, Brendon Nash was whistled for cross-checking, followed by a slashing penalty on junior Patrick Kennedy 1:22 later.

“Very undisciplined penalty,” head coach Mike Schafer ’86 said of the cross-checking call on Nash. “You can’t put yourself in that situation.”

Smelling blood in the water, BU coach Jack Parker pulled his goalie for the 6-on-3 advantage, which he’d practiced with his team earlier in the week after a suggestion by a former assistant. The last time the Terriers practiced the 6-on-3?

“The 12th,” Parker said. “The 12th of never.”

Cornell killed off all 38 seconds of 6-on-3 with Riley Nash, Justin Krueger and Braden Birch on the ice, but after Brendon Nash returned to the ice, a 6-on-4 goal by Chris Connolly sent the game to overtime tied at 3. On the equalizer, Bonino sent a shot that Scrivens thought he’d covered up, but it squirted out from underneath him and Connolly poked it into the goal.

“He feathered it in on a rebound and it trickled in just behind me,” Scrivens said. “We have to live with it whether we like it or not.”

Schafer also thought Scrivens had made the save but his request for a video replay was denied.

“When it hit [Scrivens], he had it for a second,” Schafer said.

Neither squad could come up with any magic in overtime. Cornell seemed to find an extra reserve of energy and skated a little crisper than the previous period and a half, but aside from a shot by Joe Devin that bounced off the crossbar, the Red did not threaten. Similarly, BU set up its offense for a few moments and took some shots, including a fancy backhanded wrist shot by BU’s Alex Chiasson that Scrivens didn’t see, but the shot hit the side of the net and Cornell’s defense cleared the puck. With 30 seconds left in overtime, freshman defenseman Braden Birch elected to skate backwards rather than try for a puck in the offensive zone that he probably could have reached — the play was indicative of Cornell’s defensive mentality throughout the game. Schafer said the game was disappointing because the team “takes a lot of pride in protecting leads.”

“But,” Schafer noted, “at 3-3, they wanted to win. That’s a good quality for a hockey team to have.”

Men’s hockey 4, Colgate 2

Senior Blake Gallagher scored his team-leading eighth goal to send fans home happy in the men’s hockey team’s last game at Lynah Rink until Jan. 22. The Red had leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but each time Colgate scored the equalizer. Gallagher scored the game winner on a power play 14:49 into the third period, then senior Colin Greening added an empty-net goal with five seconds left to push the lead to 4-2. Senior defenseman Justin Krueger had three assists and junior center Riley Nash notched his second goal of the year.