A losing streak was going to come to an end at Friday night’s Hockey East game between the University of Maine’s Black Bears and Boston University’s Terriers at Agganis Arena in Boston.
UMaine had lost its last seven games at Agganis Arena dating back to 2018 but the Terriers entered the contest having lost their previous five home games.
It was BU who ended its losing skid, rallying from a pair of one-goal deficits to beat UMaine 3-2 in overtime on a goal by freshman right wing Ryder Ritchie 1:42 into the extra session, his fifth goal of the season and second game-winner.
Sascha Boumedienne and Jack Harvey assisted on the goal.
Boumedienne passed it across to the middle of the slot to Ritchie and he used UMaine defenseman Lukas Peterson as a screen, snapping a 25-foot wrist shot past UMaine goalie Albin Boija to the blocker side.
It is UMaine’s second consecutive 3-2 overtime loss after losing at home to Providence last Saturday night. UMaine had been 4-0-2 in overtime before the Providence game.
BU improved to 13-13-2 overall and 9-10 in Hockey East while UMaine fell to 14-11-2 and 8-9.
BU sophomore goalie Mikhail Yegorov and UMaine junior goalie Boija each finished with 28 saves.
UMaine attempted 70 shots to BU’s 56 but the Terriers blocked 28 of them.
UMaine head coach Ben Barr called the loss “disappointing” and said his team’s performance “wasn’t good.”
“Mental breakdowns, turnovers, panicking with the puck. We wanted to play the same game they wanted to play and that’s not us,” said Barr referring to BU’s uptempo run-and-gun style of play compared to his team’s physical, grinding forecheck game.
“Albin played well. He made some tough saves in the third,” he added.
UMaine’s Frank Djurasevic and Max Scott had sandwiched second-period goals around one by BU’s Jack Murtagh to give the Black Bears a 2-1 lead after two periods.
BU sophomore left wing Cole Eiserman tied it 2-2 at the 4:27 mark of the third period on BU’s first and only power play chance of the game.
Harvey fed Eiserman a diagonal pass from the top of the right faceoff circle to the inner half of the left circle and he released a quick wrist shot that beat Boija for his 11th goal of the season and fourth on the power play.
Ben Merrill also assisted.
BU entered the game ranked 50th in the country among 63 Division I schools with just a 14.9 percent success rate on the power play.
Following a scoreless first period, UMaine junior defenseman Djurasevic opened the scoring at the 1:22 mark of the second period when he corralled a loose puck at the top of the right faceoff circle, skated around a Terrier and snapped a wrist shot from a difficult angle over the glove of Yegorov into the upper short side corner.
It was his third goal of the season.
Scott and Peterson earned assists.
Freshman left wing Murtagh tied it just 1:45 later when he one-timed a cross-ice pass from Cole Hutson past Boija for his fourth of the season. Gavin McCarthy also picked up an assist.
Scott restored the one-goal lead at the 11:33 mark when he was parked just outside the crease while the puck was under the body of BU’s Kamil Bednarik.
The puck eventually squirted out and Scott swept it past Yegorov for his fifth of the season. Jaden Lipinski garnered the lone assist.
Special teams again hurt the Black Bears as UMaine went 0-for-3 on the power play and is now in a 1-for-22 drought with the man advantage.
UMaine will entertain UConn next Friday and Saturday nights at 7 while BU will face arch-rival Boston College in the Beanpot Tournament championship game on Monday night at the TD Garden.