ORONO – For a freshman whose apparent winning goal was disallowed after a video review, Devin Shore was fairly philosophical Friday night.

“That was tough but I respect what the official did,” Shore said after Maine settled for a 3-3 tie with Boston University in a Hockey East game. “It’ll just make the next one feel that much sweeter.”

A crowd of 4,300 at Alfond Arena saw the Black Bears (8-15-6, 4-10-6) rally from a two-goal deficit by capitalizing on a power play that, entering the weekend, was the worst among the 59 Division I schools.

Freshman Steven Swavely converted two rebounds and Joey Diamond scored from the high slot, all on power plays, to give Maine a 3-2 lead entering the third period.

“I think things are starting to click,” said Shore, whose apparent winner came on yet another power play with a little more than five minutes remaining in regulation, after a cross-ice pass from Jake Rutt. “Once we get on that power play, we’re simplifying things and just getting pucks on net. When you do that, good things happen.”

After a video review, officials ruled that Maine freshman Ryan Lomberg interfered with BU goalie Matt O’Connor.

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“There was definitely someone in the crease on that one,” O’Connor said. “I feel like if he wasn’t in there, I would have gotten across and made the save. All I could see was a jersey in my face.”

Maine Coach Tim Whitehead declined to comment other than to say he saw the replay.

A victory would have pulled the Black Bears into a tie with UMass for the eighth and final playoff berth in Hockey East. Instead they remain in ninth, one point behind the Minutemen.

The tie extended a five-game winless streak for BU (13-12-2, 10-7-2), which has generally enjoyed its trips to Orono in recent years, having lost only once (7-1-2) in their previous 10 games.

BU took a quick 2-0 lead on goals 10 seconds apart.

On both goals, Maine defensemen lost control of the puck while attempting to break out of their zone. The first time, BU’s Matt Nieto worked a give-and-go with Evan Rodrigues in the ninth minute.

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Cason Hohmann then converted a steal near the right corner into a perfect feed to the slot for Wade Megan, who slid a shot just inside the left post.

That second goal seemed to awaken something within the Black Bears, whose offensive pressure paid off late in the period when Swavely buried the rebound of a Lomberg backhand for a power-play score with 1:34 left.

Another penalty at the first-period horn put Maine on another power play to open the second, and once more Swavely was in the right place at the right time, scoring on the rebound of a close-in shot from Shore to make it 2-2.

Diamond, who assisted on the second Swavely goal, set up yet another Maine power play by drawing a roughing double-minor on Megan. Only 34 seconds into the four-on-three advantage, which followed matching minors, Diamond looped around after taking a pass near the front of the net, drifted in from the high slot and picked out the upper right corner for a 3-2 lead and his 11th goal of the season.

“Three individual breakdowns,” said BU Coach Jack Parker.

“After we kind of shot ourselves in the foot in the second period, I thought we played great in the third.”

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BU made it 3-3 on a power play seven minutes into the third on a screened shot from the blue line by Ahti Oksanen.

Maine goalie Martin Ouellette had 23 saves to O’Connor’s 35.

“It was a crazy game,” Whitehead said. “A lot of momentum swings in that one. But I really liked how we fought back to take the lead. The crowd was into it. The crowd was great. It was an exciting night. I wish we had two points but we’ll take the one.”

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

 


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