ORONO, Maine — The University of Maine men’s hockey team again gave its fans another resilient performance Saturday night against the nation’s third-ranked Quinnipiac University Bobcats.
For the second straight night, a sold-out Alfond Arena crowd of 5,125 saw the Black Bears erase a two-goal deficit but this time it didn’t produce a win as sophomore left wing Craig Martin’s goal 1:15 into overtime supplied the Bobcats with a 3-2 triumph.
UMaine (3-1) had overcome a 3-1 third-period deficit against Quinnipiac on Friday to triumph 4-3 in overtime, and it had rallied from a 2-1 disadvantage the previous weekend to beat Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 4-2 behind three third-period goals.
The Bobcats (2-1) deserved Saturday night’s win as the 2015-2016 NCAA tournament runners-up had the better of the play and were able to sustain their forecheck longer than UMaine by taking advantage of their superior quickness.
“I was certainly happy with the outcome,” said Quinnipiac coach Rand Pecknold, the winner of the Spencer Penrose Award as the nation’s top coach last season. “Our attention to detail was much better. We played a much better hockey game. We played more to our identity.
”You’ve got to give Maine a lot of credit for finding a way to tie it. Maine was real good tonight, too,” he added. “I’ve been very impressed with their team this weekend. I think they’re going to have a great season.”
Quinnipiac, an ECAC team from Hamden, Connecticut, and an NCAA tournament participant the last four seasons, outshot UMaine 33-22 and had 27 high-percentage scoring chances to UMaine’s 17.
But sophomore goalie Rob McGovern kept the Black Bears within striking distance until Nolan Vesey forced overtime by scoring with 4:23 remaining in regulation.
McGovern wound up with 16 Grade-A saves among his 30 stops. Quinnipiac freshman Andrew Southridge, making his college debut, had six Grade-A stops among his 20.
“McGovern was excellent tonight and he was real good on the weekend,” Pecknold said.
“Rob was terrific,” said UMaine coach Red Gendron, who felt his team didn’t play as well as it had Friday night.
“We could have been sharper in our decision-making and in our discipline to execute what was there instead of trying something else. I thought we could have made more simple plays throughout various parts of the game,” he said. “But full marks to Quinnipiac. They came out and played hard.”
The Bobcats took a 2-0 lead on late first-period goals goals 1:26 apart by Tommy Schutt and Tim Clifton (power play).
Blaine Byron’s second-period, power-play goal cut the lead in half before Vesey got the equalizer.
The game-winner came about after the Bobcats pounced on a loose puck in the neutral zone and transitioned to the attack after UMaine freshman Patrick Shea had lost the puck when he skated into teammate Cam Brown and the puck glanced off Brown’s skate.
Clifton raced into the offensive zone and took a shot from the slot that was saved by McGovern. Kevin McKernan took a whack at the rebound and the puck pinballed over to Martin in the middle of the shot and he fired it past McGovern’s right skate.
It was just his second goal in 22 career games.
“A guy came down the right side and took a shot that hit me in the shoulder. I went over to the left side and either someone blocked it out front or some kid fanned on it and it landed on [Martin’s] tape,” McGovern said.
“It was a good bounce,” Pecknold said. “If we work hard and play to our identity, you’re gonna get bounces. I truly believe that and we got one tonight.”
Clifton’s goal came on the power play as UMaine’s Rob Michel was assessed a roughing penalty during the aftermath after Schutt had scored with 2:30 left in the period.
The Bobcats won an offensive-zone faceoff and were able to sustain a forecheck that led to a wild flurry. T.J. Tiefenwerth took a shot and the rebound spilled to the high slot where Schutt wristed a 20-footer past McGovern.
Michel then went to the penalty box and Clifton capitalized by one-timing a Brogan Rafferty rebound through McGovern’s pads.
UMaine gave the Bobcats four power plays in the first period while Quinnipiac wasn’t called for a penalty.
“Three of those four penalties didn’t need to be taken,” Gendron said.
UMaine freshman Ryan Smith nearly pulled the Black Bears within one in the final minute of the period when he swatted a Cedric Lacroix rebound off the crossbar while the Black Bears were shorthanded.
Byron scored his goal off a precise pass from Brown as he was positioned behind Shortridge and slid the puck into the empty net.
McGovern made several great saves during multiple-shot flurries in the second and third periods to keep UMaine within one and Vesey tied it when Patrick Holway got the puck to the net front and he swept it home from the middle of the low slot.
“My job is to keep the team in games,” McGovern said. “We have so much belief in each other. If we can keep it within two goals, we know we’re going to come back.”
UMaine visits National Collegiate Hockey Conference member Miami University of Ohio (1-1-1) next weekend.