BOSTON – The University of Maine hockey team played with purpose and potency Saturday night and put it to Northeastern, routing the Huskies 7-1 at Matthews Arena.

With the win, the Black Bears (19-11-3, 14-10-2 in Hockey East) sit alone in fourth place in the league with one weekend to go.

But if Maine is to finish fourth and get home-ice advantage in the league quarterfinals, the Black Bears will need help.

Maine has only one game remaining, while fifth-place Merrimack has two games (both against UMass). The Warriors are only one point behind Maine and also hold the tiebreaker against the Black Bears.

Northeastern (12-15-5, 8-13-4), meanwhile, fell back into an eighth-place tie with Massachusetts.

Maine stopped a two-game losing streak by outplaying the Huskies in every period.

“We heard it from our coaching staff after the last game,” said forward Spencer Abbott, referring to Friday’s 4-2 loss to Northeastern. “This time we stuck to our game plan and we were disciplined.”

Abbott, the leading scorer in Division I with 56 points, recorded two goals and an assist. Joey Diamond had two goals and two assists. Adam Shemansky, Theo Anderson and Mark Anthoine added goals, and Matt Mangene had three assists for the Black Bears.

Goalie Dan Sullivan made 21 saves, including some key ones in the first period when the game was close.

Maine, outplayed in the first period Friday, got the jump Saturday, taking a 3-1 first-period lead.

“We had more intensity and we executed better as a team,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said.

The Black Bears took a 1-0 lead after Sullivan made a sliding pad save, leading to a Maine three-on-one break. Kyle Beattie, skating down the right side, crossed to Shemansky, who one-timed it in at 4:14.

Anderson made it 2-0 at 5:26 when he wristed a shot over Chris Rawlings’ blocker.

Northeastern closed to 2-1 on a power-play goal by Vinny Saponari, who fired past an obstructed Sullivan at 8:46.

Maine got that back with its own power-play goal. From the point, Mangene sent the puck behind the net to Shemansky. He passed it out to Anthoine, who whacked it in at 9:52 for a 3-1 lead. Rawlings was pulled, replaced by Clay Witt.

Anthoine, a sophomore from Lewiston, has 10 power-play goals, tied for best in the country.

Maine scored two more in the second period — Diamond from a Mangene pass and Abbott redirecting Jake Rutt’s shot. It was the fourth assist this year for Rutt, a freshman from Scarborough.

Abbott helped create his second goal, leaving a drop pass for Brian Flynn, who shot. Abbott rebounded it in at 2:39 of the third period for a 6-1 lead.

“In (Friday’s) game we didn’t get pucks to the net. Tonight was the complete opposite,” Abbott said.

Abbott assisted Diamond for the seventh goal, and Northeastern then went to its third goalie, Bryan Mountain.

With the game in hand, Maine sent out its No. 3 goalie, senior Josh Seeley of Howland, for the final 41/2 minutes.

Maine plays its final regular-season game at 4 p.m. Saturday in Orono, a NESN-televised game against New Hampshire.

To finish fourth, Maine must beat UNH and have Merrimack get only two points next weekend.

“It’s out of our hands,” Abbott said. “All we can do is win one more game and see what happens.”

Staff writer Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

 

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