ORONO, Maine – The University of Maine men’s hockey team came within 20 seconds of sweeping Boston University.
But sophomore left wing Shane Lachance shoveled home a rebound with the extra attacker on the ice to give the Terriers a 2-2 tie.
Neither team scored in the five-minute 3-on-3 overtime so it went to a shootout for the extra point and BU won it when Ryan Greene scored in the fourth round on Saturday night at Alfond Arena.
Maine is now 7-2-2 overall and 4-4-2 in Hockey East.
BU is 5-5-1 and 2-2-1.
“It is what it is. It was really good hockey both ways,” said UMaine coach Ben Barr. “There is nothing glaring you are upset about outside of the outcome a little bit.
“For the most part we played our style of hockey but hockey is hockey sometimes and it doesn’t go your way at the end,” added Barr, “It always hurts a little more when you are seconds away from a win but we’ll be alright.”
BU coach Jay Pandolfo agreed.
“It was a hard-fought game both ways,” said Pandolfo. “I give credit to our guys for sticking with it. They do a good job, defensively. We didn’t have a ton going on in the third. But we found a way to stick with it and bang that one home late.
“That was huge for our group,” added Pandolfo.
Lachance, grandson of legendary BU coach Jack Parker, said he wasn’t sure how he wound up with the puck after BU won the faceoff and Cole Hutson took a point-to-point pass from Tom Willander and wristed the puck to the crowded net front.
“I was kind of just standing there and I looked down and I saw it standing right in front of me and I put it in,” said Lachance whose goal was his fifth of the season.
Cole Eiserman staked BU to a 1-0 lead in the first period but UMaine’s Nolan Renwick tied it on the power play.
Anthony Calafiore gave Maine a 2-1 lead late in the second period.
Eiserman opened the scoring when Kamil Bednarik’s shot deflected over to him and he deposited it into the half-empty net. It was the freshman left wing’s seventh goal of the season.
Later in the period UMaine goalie Albin Boija stopped Eiserman’s breakaway attempt.
Renwick tied it by fluttering a backhander over Mathieu Caron with a pile of players down on the ice.
It was his fifth of the season.
Sophomore right wing Calafiore broke the tie midway through the second period when Oskar Komarov made a nifty stickhandling maneuver along the extended goal line and slid a short pass to Calafiore, who swept it into the open net from just outside the crease.
Caron and Boija each made some good saves in regulation and overtime and were sharp throughout the game.
Caron had 30 saves and Boija made 20.
“We played hard and had some good looks but it wasn’t enough at the end of the day,” said UMaine senior center Renwick “It sucks to give that one up with 20 seconds left but they’re a good team and if you give them a chance they’re going to capitalize on it.
“We had plenty of chances. Maybe if we had buried one in the third or late in the second it’s a whole different ballgame.”
BU was without leading scorer Quinn Hutson due to an upper body injury and UMaine right wing Josh Nadeau suffered a head/face injury late in the second period and he didn’t return.
UMaine will travel to New Hampshire for a Friday night game while BU will entertain Merrimack.