BOSTON – The No. 14 UMass hockey team fell to No. 9 Boston University in overtime, 3-2, during the quarterfinal round of the Hockey East Playoffs on Saturday at Agganis Arena.

Terriers freshman Cole Eiserman snapped home the game-winner at 2 minutes, 59 seconds of the overtime period from the left faceoff dot off the rush, sending third-seeded BU back to the TD Garden for the Hockey East semifinals.

The Minutemen (who were the No. 6 in Hockey East) are all but certain of an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament and head coach Greg Carvel was still proud of his team’s performance despite the defeat.

“I really liked our game tonight. I thought our team played outstanding,” Carvel said. “BU gets an early goal on the power play, it’s a heck of a shot. Fought back from a goal-down twice in the third period, things were downhill for us. Then in overtime we get three of four chances early, [BU goalie Mikhail Yegorov] played extremely well. I think I said going into this game the goaltending would probably decide [the game]. I thought Yegorov made a lot of big saves there, especially late in the game.”

Yegorov, the Terriers’ freshman goalie, totaled 36 saves, including 18 in the third period. The New Jersey Devils draft pick stoned Jack Musa in overtime off a Minutemen offensive-zone faceoff, setting the stage for Eiserman’s OT tally.

“I just try to focus on the next puck, next shot,” Yegorov said. “Even if I get scored on, it doesn’t matter because the next shot is ahead of me. It doesn’t matter how many [shots], 40, 20, five, it’s just about stopping the puck and helping my team.”

Eiserman assisted on the first BU goal of the game — a Shane Lachance power play marker at 5:14 of the first — then waited until the extra frame to solidify his impact on the contest with the deciding goal.

“Sascha [Boumedienne] rimmed it out and [UMass] had a lot of guys collapsed,” Eiserman said on his 21st goal of the year. “Had a lot of time and space and took it wide and saw I had a shot, tried to go five-hole and I was lucky enough for it to go in, so it felt good.”

UMass sophomore goalie Michael Hrabal saw his undefeated streak snapped at eight games at BU, compiling 26 saves in the loss.

Lachance wristed a perfectly placed shot from the goal line between Hrabal’s right shoulder and the near post for the Terriers’ first goal. Hrabal saved the initial shot from Eiserman, but Lachance quickly corralled the puck and whipped it past the Minutemen tender at 5 minutes, 14 seconds of the opening frame.

Junior Cole O’Hara was all over the ice before setting up the equalizer at 3:32 of the second. O’Hara did a couple loops around the offensive zone before cutting into the slot, then Jack Musa cleaned up the rebound to even the score at 1-1.

The assist from O’Hara pushed his season-long point total to 51, tying the UMass single-season program record.

Boumedienne put BU (21-12-2) back on top with its first goal off the rush, one-timing the puck past Hrabal following a nice feed from Jack Hughes at 11:26 of the second. UMass had a similar odd-man rush on the other end moments before, but sophomore Aydar Suniev’s pass was broken up by the Terriers’ defenseman, sending BU toward Hrabal with pace.

It appeared the Terriers had made it 3-1 with under a minute left in the second, but the Minutemen (20-13-5) challenged for offside. After a lengthy review, the goal was wiped off the board, energizing the UMass bunch.

“That put the wind back in our sails,” Carvel said. “Again, we outshot them in the first and the third, they outshot us in the second. That call-back was huge. Once we got that, you could feel the energy in the bench, it rolled into the locker room. Then the third period was outstanding. We had a lot of shots in the third.”

The Minutemen were the better team in the third and their efforts were rewarded when Suniev secured his 18th goal of the season at 11:17. Suniev picked up the loose puck in the slot following a Terriers net-front scramble and rocketed a wrist shot high past Yegorov’s glove, evening the score, 2-2.

“You know they’re going to push,” BU head coach Jay Pandolfo said on UMass’ third period. “It’s a playoff game, elimination game in Hockey East, they pushed hard in the third. I thought we were on our heels too much. I don’t think we were on our toes. You can’t sit on your heels against a team like that, who their [defensemen] press up ice, their forwards are going to put it behind you and go to work, they were getting to our net.”

In overtime, four shots were counted between the two teams, yet it was Eiserman’s quick release from the outside that proved to be just quick enough, as the puck slid under Hrabal’s pads less than three minutes into the final period.

“I told them this was just like the Denver game in the NCAAs last year,” Carvel said. “I was so proud of them. I think they deserved better in a tough environment. Extremely proud of UMass hockey tonight.”

The Minutemen await their next opponent in the NCAA Tournament, which won’t be decided until the selection show on Sunday, March 23.