ORONO – The puck remained stuck in the webbing of the goal, hanging over goalie Shawn Sirman’s left shoulder, an unpleasant reminder of what the University of Maine men’s hockey team had just squandered.

As a referee retrieved the puck in the opening moments of the third period, Sirman looked at him for an explanation.

Little was given except that yes, the goal counted.

David Warsofsky’s shot from the slot gave Boston University a 4-3 win over the Black Bears, completing the Terriers’ rally from a two-goal deficit Friday night at Alfond Arena.

“Whenever you can find space like that, you’ve got to bear down,” said Warsofsky after he converted a feed in the high slot from Alex Chiasson, who retrieved the puck after it bounced off a referee’s skate.

Warsofsky’s goal at 3:43 of the third period outshone Spencer Abbott’s second-period effort, when the junior left wing scored twice in 21 seconds to help Maine take a 3-1 lead less than seven minutes into the period.

Warsofsky admitted recovering from that deficit was a daunting task at first glance.

“It was a little, at first,” Warsofsky said. “They get three goals in two minutes, and they’re playing well when they get a couple quick goals.

(BU) Coach (Jack Parker) called a timeout and we regrouped, and it’s one of those things where you have to take control and settle the younger guys down and settle the rest of the team down.”

In the third period, goalie Kieran Millan gave BU (12-7-6, 9-5-4 Hockey East) a boost by making 12 of his 34 saves.

“There were a lot of momentum swings in the game and Millan was exceptional,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said. “We had some great looks and if you’d said we’d win the special-teams game and outshoot them in the third period (12-5), I thought we would have won.

“The game can be cruel sometimes. I thought BU played very smart, scored some beautiful goals and really defended well.”

Meanwhile, the Black Bears (11-7-5, 8-5-3) frittered away their second lead in as many games, continuing a pattern.

“One of these times, we’ve got to win,” Abbott said. “It’s happened to us I don’t know how many times and we haven’t learned from it yet.

“We make some mistakes and we’ve talked about it all the time, how to sustain a lead and not let a team back in and close it out, and we just haven’t been able to do that yet.”

Corey Trivino’s goal at 11:52 gave BU a 1-0 lead and punctuated a first period in which Maine outshot the Terriers, 15-12. The Black Bears put five shots on Millan in the first five minutes and got a pair of late saves from Sirman (23 saves) to stay within a goal of the Terriers going into the second period.

After Abbott’s two goals, Tanner House gave Maine a 3-1 lead at 6:30 of the second, but BU cut the lead to 3-2 at 11:46 when Chiasson’s slow backhander skidded past Sirman’s left skate. The Terriers tied the game 28 seconds later on Wade Megan’s goal.

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at:

rlenzi@pressherald.com

 

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