CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The University of Maine men’s hockey team finally solved stellar Boston College goaltender John Muse in the second period after being shut out by the senior for 92 minutes, 56 seconds this weekend.
But goals 40 seconds apart late in the period by Bill Arnold and Paul Carey snapped a 1-1 tie and sent the Eagles on their way to a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon and a sweep of the two-game set.
Barry Almeida added an empty-net goal with 2:09 left.
Muse finished with 38 saves while Maine freshman goalie Dan Sullivan wound up with 19 as Maine outshot BC 39-23.
Boston College improved to 8-4 overall, 6-3 in Hockey East. Maine fell to 6-3-3 and 4-2-1, respectively.
The Black Bears are now winless in their last eight visits to Conte Forum (0-7-1) and 2-12-3 in their last 17 games there.
Carey’s second power-play goal in as many games staked the Eagles to a 1-0 lead 2:02 into the game.
Carey scored six seconds after Maine was called for having too many men on the ice.
Brian Gibbons passed the puck back to Cam Atkinson in the middle of the high slot, and he blasted a slap shot that was kicked out by Maine freshman Dan Sullivan.
Carey was driving to the net from the right circle and the puck glanced in off his right shin pad.
The goal was reviewed, but the goal call was upheld.
Maine coach Tim Whitehead said he had a good look at the play and saw it on video replay and felt it should have been disallowed because Carey directed it into the net with his leg. Carey felt the referees made the right call because he didn’t deliberately kick it in.
Maine sophomore defenseman Mark Nemec equalized at the 12:56 mark of the second period when his screened wrister from the right point beat Muse low and to the blocker side.
Maine carried the play, but Arnold scored against the run of play at the 18:28 mark when he worked a give-and-go with Steven Whitney down the left wing side and roofed a backhander from a difficult angle near the extended goal line.
“I knew I was close to going behind the net. I wanted to get a shot on goal (before running out of space). I knew Joe Whitney was crashing the net. I just tried to elevate it,” said Arnold, who roofed it short side over Sullivan’s blocker.
“That was a great play. I slid over. He didn’t have much to shoot at,” said Sullivan.
“That was an unbelievable goal,” said Almeida.
Carey scored his second of the game and third of the series 40 seconds later when he got behind the Maine defense, gloved down a high flip pass from Cam Atkinson and dashed in alone on Sullivan.
Sullivan stopped his initial shot, but the rebound came right back to Carey’s stick and he buried it.
“I tried to go five-hole with the first shot, but he stopped it,” said Carey.
BC coach Jerry York said his Eagles were fortunate in the second period.
“Maine was all over us in the second period, but then we wound up getting those two late goals,” said York. “I was impressed with their team. They played hard.”
The Black Bears tried valiantly to rally in the third period and had several flurries in front of Muse on an early power play, but Muse came up with a couple of stops, the Eagles were able to clear a couple of tantalizing loose pucks and the Bears also had a few pucks bounce over their sticks.
“We played 100 times better than we did on Friday night, but we just couldn’t buy a goal,” said Maine junior left wing Spencer Abbott.
“We had a lot more shots than they did, but we just couldn’t get any bounces,” said Maine sophomore right wing Joey Diamond.
“Not everyone played their best games, but we played smart,” said BC senior center Brian Gibbons. “(Muse) saved our bacon.”
Maine was without injured veteran defensemen Will O’Neill (knee) and Jeff Dimmen (ankle), whose combined 61 points a year ago were second best in the nation behind the Wisconsin defense pair of Brendan Smith and Justin Schultz (74 points).
The power play went 0-for-5 without them to conclude an 0-for-12 weekend. Maine is now 3-for-34 on the power play over its last five games. BC went 1-for-3 with the man advantage.
Whitehead called it a disappointing loss.
“This game can be cruel. I was very proud with how we competed,” said Whitehead. “I was very impressed with Muse all weekend.”
Muse finished with 12 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves while Sullivan had five. Both teams did an excellent job protecting their net fronts as the defensemen blocked a lot of shots and the forwards hustled back to help out on the defensive side of the puck.
Maine returns to action Dec. 3-4 when the Bears visit Providence College for a two-game set.