Senior right wing Patrick Shea scored two first-period goals and junior goalie Jeremy Swayman made 41 saves as the University of Maine snapped out of a goal-scoring drought Sunday afternoon with an entertaining 5-1 victory over defending Atlantic Hockey champion American International College at Alfond Arena in Orono.
UMaine (9-8-3) halted its four-game winless streak (0-3-1) and improved to 6-0-1 this season at Alfond Arena.
The Black Bears registered a season-high 49 shots on goal.
“We came out hard, we got a lot of pucks to the net and we buried our chances,” Shea said. “We got better as the game went along.”
Swayman said his teammates made it miserable on AIC’s goalies by attacking the net tenaciously and putting their shots on goal.
AIC, which last season made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history and shocked top seed St. Cloud State 2-1 in the first round of the tourney, fell to 8-9-1.
Junior defenseman Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi staked UMaine to a 1-0 lead just 59 seconds into the game and the Black Bears never looked back. Shea expanded the lead with his two goals later in the period.
Joel Kocur scored a second-period goal for AIC but A.J. Drobot and Mitch Fossier added insurance goals in the third period.
Stefano Durante finished with 36 saves on 38 shots over the final two periods for AIC in relief of starter Zackarias Skog. Durante was sensational in the second period, stopping all 22 shots he faced.
AIC was without injured goal-scoring leaders Tobias Fladeby (9 goals) and Elijah Barriga (7).
UMaine had scored just one goal in each of its last four games but Tiuraniemi got things started early.
The top line of Tim Doherty between Fossier and Eduards Tralmaks generated a sustained forecheck and Fossier slid the puck back to Tiuraniemi at the right point.
Tiuraniemi took a quick wrist shot and it sailed through a maze of players and beat Skog to the glove side into the short-side corner.
Shea extended the lead with a shorthanded tally at the 12:48 mark.
Ryan Smith pushed the puck past an AIC defenseman at the defensive blue line and Shea pounced on it. Smith joined Shea on a 2-on-1 and Shea wound up beating Skog with a low wrist shot.
Shea said Smith did a nice job driving to the net to occupy the AIC defenseman and giving him a shooting angle.
“I shot it over his pad and under his glove,” Shea said.
Shea notched his second goal courtesy of an A.J. Drobot rebound.
Drobot’s shot from a difficult angle was stopped by Skog but he spilled a rebound and Shea swept it home from the top of the crease.
Skog, AIC’s all-time leader in wins (35) and shutouts (9), was replaced at the outset of the second period after allowing three goals on 11 shots.
“He didn’t have it today,” AIC coach Eric Lang said. “He has had trouble in this building.”
Skog was lifted after two periods of a 7-2 loss at UMaine in 2016 after allowing four goals on 11 shots.
Swayman, meanwhile, made 17 saves in the opening 20 minutes as the Yellow Jackets produced the better scoring opportunities in the period.
Swayman made 11 high-percentage saves compared to Skog’s five.
Durante was equally superb in the second period, stopping 22 shots including 13 Grade-A’s.
UMaine outshot AIC 22-10 in the middle period as it dominated the period.
Kocur scored just moments after the Black Bears’ Edward Lindelow fired high on a breakaway.
Jeff Baum’s shot from the left point broke a UMaine stick and deflected into the middle of the slot and Kocur’s one-timer beat Swayman.
But Swayman wouldn’t concede another goal, finishing with 23 high-percentage stops among his 41.
“I felt good,” Swayman said. “It was good to see a lot of shots early. The defensemen did a real good job keeping the shots to the outside and giving me an opportunity to see them.”
Drobot scored an important goal 7:35 into the third period off a Smith feed as he snapped a 16-foot wrist shot through Durante’s pads.
Fossier capped the scoring 5:28 later when he intercepted an errant AIC pass at the blue line, took a couple of strides and seemed to catch Durante by surprise with a 25-foot wrist shot past the goalie’s blocker.
“We created a lot of scoring chances,” Lang said. “[Swayman] was exceptional. He made a lot of tough saves look easy. We must have had three or four breakways.
“But we were God-awful defensively,” he added.
Smith finished with three assists and UMaine killed off all six AIC power plays.