ORONO, Maine — Providence senior right wing Nick Saracino had been robbed in the waning moments of regulation when Maine hockey goalie Matt Morris poke checked the puck away from him after he was set up alone in front by Brandon Tanev.
But Saracino made the best of his final chance, beating Morris with a 17-foot wrister with 2:47 left in overtime to give the Friars a thrilling 1-0 Hockey East victory at Alfond Arena Friday night.
Sixth-ranked Providence is now 18-5-4 overall, 9-3-3 in Hockey East, while Maine fell to 7-16-6 and 4-9-2. The two teams play again Saturday night.
It was the eighth time Maine has been shutout this season and 15th time it has been held to one goal or less..
Brian Pinho assisted on the game-winner.
Saracino said Pinho had a lot of speed breaking into the zone so he gave him the puck before Pinho gave it back to him.
“Brian drove the net and that created a lane for me,” explained Saracino, who sliced from right to left across the middle of the slot before sailing his wrister over Morris’ glove-side shoulder.
Morris was superb all night as he finished with a career-high 50 saves. Nick Ellis wound up with 19 for Providence.
Providence has now extended its unbeaten streak against Maine to 11 games (10-0-1).
Even though Morris was the much busier goalie, Ellis came up with a gem three minutes into the third period to keep it scoreless.
Nolan Vesey pushed a pass ahead to Cam Brown in the high slot and Brown busted in alone on Ellis. The swift-skating Brown pulled the puck to his backhand as he sliced from left to right across the top of the crease but Ellis stuck out his left skate to make the save.
“That was a big save,” said Providence coach Nate Leaman.
Tom Parisi had a golden opportunity for Providence later in the period as he was able to find open real estate down the left wing from the left point. But Morris held the short side to get his right pad on Parisi’s backhander.
Morris made 31 saves through the first two periods as the Friars carried the play and had a wide edge in offensive zone possession.
But the Black Bears defended effectively in front of Morris, limiting the Friars to few second-chance opportunities by clearing pucks out of danger and getting their sticks and bodies in the way.
Maine also backchecked purposefully to hold the Friars to few odd-man rushes.
Maine generated more chances in the third period than it had in the first two periods but couldn’t put the puck behind Ellis.
Midway through the second period, Friar freshman left wing Niko Rufo took a pass and split the Black Bear defense but Morris made a solid blocker save on his backhander.
Maine had a couple of chances in the period as Ellis held the short side to stymie Steven Swavely’s wraparound attempt and he alertly got his blocker on a shot by Danny Perez, who chipped a Blaine Byron pass on net from the right circle.
Providence had a 20-5 edge in shots on goal in the second period after holding an 11-4 edge in the first period.
“It was a hard game,” said Maine coach Red Gendron. “There were tons of hits, blocked shots and battles. Our battle level was excellent. Matt Morris was excellent. I would have liked to have seen us generate more chances.”
“It was a great hockey game. It was played at a high pace,” said Leaman. “I was pleased with the way the guys persevered. We played a great second period but we didn’t score. The guys stayed with it, though. Morris was tremendous.”