The University of Maine men’s hockey team received a 31-save performance from junior goalie Victor Ostman that included two breakaway stops in its 2-1 victory over Boston College on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd of 5,043 at Alfond Arena in Orono.

UMaine, picked to finish last (11th) in the Hockey East preseason coaches poll, completed a weekend sweep of BC and clinched a home ice berth for the first round of the Hockey East playoffs on March 8.

 The sixth, seventh and eighth seeds earn home ice berths, and UMaine is tied for sixth with Providence, although UMaine owns the tiebreaker with two wins over the Friars.

UMaine, extending its unbeaten streak to seven games with four wins and three ties, is now 15-13-5 overall and 9-9-4 in Hockey East, while BC fell to 12-14-6 and 7-10-5, respectively.

Sophomore center Nolan Renwick’s first-period power play goal and freshman defenseman Grayson Arnott’s second-period goal staked the Black Bears to a 2-0 lead, but freshman center Cutter Gauthier’s power play goal with 6:22 left in the middle period cut the lead in half.

It was BC’s fourth power play goal of the weekend as the Eagles went 3-for-6 in its 6-3 loss to the Black Bears on Friday night.

The Black Bears protected the lead in the third period Ostman made six saves in the period.

BC’s Mike Posma hit the post to the right of Ostman.

Mitch Benson made 23 saves for the swift-skating and talented Eagles, who dropped all three games to UMaine this season, including a 3-1 home loss on Feb. 10.

Renwick’s goal was his eighth of the season. He was parked in the low slot and redirected an  Arnott pass along the ice through Benson’s pads. Jakub Sirota also assisted on the goal.

“[Arnott)] made a heckuva’ play,” said Renwick. “That was a set play. It’s something we practice quite a lot. All I had to do was put my stick down and [Arnott] put it right on my tape. Fortunately, it went five-hole.”

It was UMaine’s fourth power play opportunity of the period, including a two-man advantage that lasted 38 seconds.

Arnott extended the lead at the 11:40 mark of the middle period when he one-timed a slap shot from the right point off a Lynden Breen pass. His rising shot squeezed through Benson’s left arm and his body. It was his second of the season.

Donavan Houle also had an assist and helped screen Benson.

Gauthier’s 16th goal of the year came on a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle that slipped through Ostman’s pads. Eamon Powell made the pass to Gauthier and goalie Benson also earned an assist on the goal.

“Obviously, to sweep a team like BC at home is really special,” said Ostman. “We played really hard tonight and shut them down pretty good in the third period. To get two wins for these fans is incredible.”

He said limiting BC’s power play to just three opportunities rather than the six power plays they had on Friday night was important, and “five-on-five, the guys kept them to the outside which made it a lot easier on me.”

He said he was happy with the way he played but called it a “big team effort, too.”

UMaine head coach Ben Barr said he liked his team’s compete level.

“It wasn’t pretty. BC had a lot of chances, but Victor was outstanding. There is a spirit in our [dressing] room that’s willing these guys along, and there’s something to be said for that and for how hard they work and how much they care about each other,” Barr added.

BC coach Greg Brown said his team’s effort was good.

“We’re battling, but we just aren’t scoring very easy right now,” said Brown. “Their goalie played very well. We’re doing a lot of things right. We’ve just got to find some way to get the pucks in the net.”

Ostman stopped breakaways by Christian O’Neill and Posma in the first period.

“They tried to go five-hole,” said Ostman, who closed his pads and smothered the shots.

Early in the third period, he made an outstanding pad save on BC goal-scoring leader Gauthier’s one-timer from the low slot.

Up next: UMaine will conclude the regular season by hosting UMass at We 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday. BC will host UConn on at 7 p.m. Friday and visit UConn for a 4 p.m. game on Saturday.