ORONO, Maine — The 13th-ranked University of Maine men’s hockey team came out of the weekend series against No. 1 Boston College with a win and a tie after Saturday night’s 2-2 final score in front of UMaine’s third straight sellout crowd of 5,043.
Boston College earned an extra Hockey East point by winning the shootout in eight rounds but the game goes into the books as a tie.
Sophomore defenseman Lukas Gustafsson, whose father Marcus scored the overtime game-winner in UMaine’s 3-2 overtime win over New Hampshire in the 1999 NCAA championship game in Anaheim, Cal., backhanded the puck past Victor Ostman as BC won the shootout 3-2.
UMaine, which had won Friday’s game 4-2, is now 6-1-1 while BC is 7-2-1.
UMaine extended its unbeaten streak against BC to seven games (5-0-2).
Josh Nadeau’s power play goal off a nifty Lynden Breen pass gave UMaine a 2-1 lead with 7:58 left in regulation but BC’s Ryan Leonard tied it by batting home his own rebound with 4:14 left.
Freshman right wing Nadeau’s goal snapped an 0-for-22 power play drought for the Black Bears as he tapped Breen’s post-to-post pass.
Leonard, also a freshman right wing, took a pass from Will Smith and ripped a slap shot that came back to him off UMaine senior goalie Victor Ostman’s pad.
UMaine killed off a 4-on-3 power play in overtime.
Overtime is a five-minute three-on-three and if there is a penalty, it becomes a 4-on-3.
UMaine sophomore center Felix Trudeau opened the scoring at the 18:41 mark of the first period but BC freshman left wing Gabe Perreault tied it up 2:43 into the second period. It was his second of the campaign.
BC, with one of the nation’s best power plays, had a two-man advantage for 1:25 later in the second period but the Black Bears killed it off to keep the score tied entering the third period.
Trudeau scored off a scramble in front. Reid Pabich tracked down a puck behind the net and centered it. Several players battled for the puck and Trudeau was able to sweep it through freshman goalie Jacob Fowler’s legs.
The Eagles tied it seconds after killing a UMaine power play.
Leonard came out of the penalty box and stole the puck.
He broke into the offensive zone and snapped a pass over to Perreault at the top of the right circle and Perreault ripped a rising wrist shot over Ostman’s glove into the short side corner.
“To the guys, it feels like a loss when you lose in the shootout. But they battled hard,” said UMaine coach Ben Barr. “It was an emotional game last night. We weren’t as good tonight as we were last night but some other guys stepped up. Felix Trudeau’s line (with Reid Pabich and Nicholas Niemo) played really well for us this weekend.”
He added that the team’s penalty kill was “outstanding. (Assistant coach Alfie Michaud) did a great job with that stuff.”
BC went 0-for-4 with the man advantage and had just four shots on goal.
“Both teams were stingy defensively,” said BC coach Greg Brown. “It wasn’t as wide open. We were much better on faceoffs and that helped a lot.”
BC won the faceoff battle 35-32 after UMaine had a 46-18 edge on Friday night.
Brown said it was “disappointing” that his Eagles didn’t cash in on the 5-on-3 or the 4-on-3 in overtime.
“Great power play goal by Maine in the third but I thought we did a great job after that. We really pushed the pace. We responded well. It was nice to be rewarded,” said Brown “Both teams played hard. It was a good hockey game.”
UMaine co-captain Breen said “to come out with a win and a tie against the No. 1 team in the country, there are positives. But there is so much expectation and confidence in our group, it’s a little bit of a letdown for sure.”
He said good penalty kills is part of the team’s identity.
“We play really well under pressure. We killed some penalties in some big time (situations). Overtime was huge,” he said.
Gustafsson said the Eagles worked a “little bit harder tonight.
“Maine is a tough team to beat. They’re hard to play against in the Alfond. The crowd was awesome. I love playing here,” said Gustafsson.
On his shootout goal, he said “it looked like he was biting on the fakes. That’s usually my go-to move. So I tried to bring it to my backhand and get it up.”
UMaine sophomore defenseman Grayson Arnott left the game with an injury in the second period and didn’t return.
UMaine will travel to take on nationally-ranked defending Hockey East titlist Boston University on Friday night at 7 and Saturday at 6.
Boston College will play a home-and-home series with UConn.