The University of Maine hockey team’s five-game unbeaten streak came to a crashing halt on Friday night.
The Providence College Friars scored three power play goals en route to building a 5-0 lead and coasted to a 6-1 Hockey East victory over the Black Bears at Schneider Arena in Providence.
Providence improved to 10-7-2 overall with its fourth victory in five games and the Friars are now 5-3-1 in Hockey East. UMaine, which entered the game with four wins and a tie in its previous five contests, is now 12-8-2 and 6-6, respectively.
It was UMaine’s fourth loss by at least four goals this season.
The teams will conclude their series with a 6 p.m. game on Saturday, and they will play once more in Orono on Jan. 31.
“To beat a really good team like Providence on the road you have to be better than they are,” said UMaine head coach Ben Barr. “So that’s what you get. We didn’t get a save or two and they did and we also had some egregious individual breakdowns that we hadn’t been having lately and they came back to kill us tonight.
“We weren’t willing to pay the price like we were last weekend,” added Barr referring to the 5-2 win and 3-3 tie at Denver.
Providence went 3-for-7 on the power play and it was the sixth time this season UMaine has allowed multiple power play goals in a game. It was the second time the Black Bears had allowed three in a game and they have now allowed five power play goals over their last two games after giving up two on six chances in a 3-3 tie at Denver last Saturday.
Logan Sawyer’s goal at the 11:24 mark of the first period and Hudson Malinoski’s power-play tally 4:19 later enabled the Friars to take a 2-0 lead into the intermission despite being outshot 13-7 over the first 20 minutes.
Jonathan Fauchon scored with the man-advantage 4:37 into the second period and that ended the night for UMaine junior goalie Albin Boija, who allowed three goals on eight shots.
He was replaced by freshman Mathis Rousseau, who finished with 15 saves on 18 shots.
Roger McQueen made it 4-0 with a 5-on-3 power play goal at the 15:48 mark and Quinn Mantei expanded the lead just 41 seconds later with an even-strength tally.
UMaine’s Brandon Holt scored a 5-on-3 power play goal 48 seconds into the third period but McQueen notched his second of the game later in the period to complete the romp.
Providence College freshman Jack Parsons, starting in place of injured veteran Philip Svedeback, made 26 saves to earn his second win of the season in his second start and fifth appearance.
UMaine senior defenseman Brandon Chabrier received a five-minute major and game misconduct for a kneeing penalty in the second period.