ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine’s Alfond Arena faithful hadn’t even settled in their seats before their Black Bears fell behind UMass Lowell in UM’s home opener Sunday.
Ryan Dmowski scored just 1:47 into the game and Michael Louria made it 2-0 3:24 later.
And it went all downhill from there as the nation’s fifth-ranked team sent the fans home early by scoring four first-period goals and thrashing the anemic Black Bears 6-0.
“That’s not the way you want to start a game,” said Maine senior captain Steven Swavely.
Senior goalie Kevin Boyle posted his second straight Alfond Arena shutout with a terrific 38-save performance, including 22 high-percentage stops. He made 24 saves in a 2-0 triumph on Jan. 16.
With their fifth straight win, the River Hawks improved to 8-1-2 overall, 4-0-2 in Hockey East. It was Maine’s eighth straight loss and the Black Bears fell to 0-8-3 and 0-4-0.
Maine has now been shut out five times and has scored once in four other games.
Maine’s 11 goals in its first 11 games is the worst offensive output to start a season in the program’s history dating back to 1977-78. The 0-8-3 start is the worst since the 1982-83 team lost its first 14 games.
The defining moment came during an eight-second span midway through the period when the Black Bears, trailing 2-0, generated a two-on-oh opportunity while shorthanded.
But Rob Michel’s pass across to Cam Brown failed to produce a shot and the River Hawks dashed back up the ice on a four-on-two and converted with the man advantage as C.J. Smith wristed the puck past the glove of Maine freshman goalie Rob McGovern from the top of the left circle.
“That [sequence] could have flipped the game,” said UMass Lowell coach Norm Bazin.
“It was a good pass. I mishandled it,” Brown said.
Smith scored at the 12:21 mark and Adam Chapie ended McGovern’s evening at the 15:15 mark. Senior Matt Morris came on to replace McGovern, who entered the game with the nation’s 12th lowest goals-against average (1.98) and 10th highest save percentage (.938).
“We made mistakes early and they capitalized,” said Maine coach Red Gendron. “We had a million scoring chances but the pucks didn’t go in.
“If we were averaging three goals a game [instead of a nation-low one per game], we probably would have scored on that two-on-oh,” added Gendron. “The guys are tight right now.”
“We were the beneficiaries of some loose pucks at their net front [and our guys finished],” said Bazin. “If Maine didn’t have bad luck, they wouldn’t have any luck at all.”
Gage Hough made it 5-0 early in the second period and Maine had a goal disallowed with 51.4 seconds left in the period when it was ruled that a whistle had blown before the puck entered the net.
Louria added a third-period goal.
Dmowski scored his second goal of the season when Tommy Panico’s shot from the point lodged in the uniform of Maine’s Keith Muehlbauer before dropping to the ice.
Dmowski, positioned just outside the crease to the left of McGovern, spotted the loose puck and swatted it into the short side.
Louria made it 2-0 with a dazzling rush down the right wing. He sailed around a Maine defenseman, pulled it across the low slot and freed himself from another defenseman before wristing the puck inside the short-side corner from 15 feet as McGovern had dropped down prematurely.
After Smith scored, A.J. White fed Chapie on a two-on-one and Chapie calmly roofed it.
McGovern made four saves on eight shots and Morris stopped 23 of 25.