ORONO — There is never anything satisfying about hockey games that end in a tie.

But Friday’s 4-4 deadlock between Maine and Notre Dame before an announced crowd of 4,045 at Alfond Arena left both coaches feeling good about what their players accomplished.

For Fighting Irish Coach Jeff Jackson, it was the fact that his team grabbed a hard-earned point in the Hockey East standings by rallying on the road.

For Black Bears Coach Red Gendron, it was how his team dominated the second period and overcame a shaky performance by starting goaltender Sean Romeo.

“It was a little chaotic at times, I’m sure for both teams,” Jackson said. “There was adventures in goaltending for a while and both guys that came in both settled things down a little bit.”

Maine (10-16-3, 5-8-2) trailed 3-2 midway through the first period after Romeo surrendered a trio of goals on only seven shots. Gendron quickly replaced him with Matt Morris, saying: “I didn’t want to give up a fourth.”

In the second period, the Black Bears outshot Notre Dame 18-6, getting the tying goal from Brady Campbell and a go-ahead tally by Devin Shore at the 16:06 mark.

For Campbell, a sophomore, it was his first career goal and came about when he crashed hard to the net after center Stu Higgins put two shots on Fighting Irish goaltender Chad Katunar.

“Stu ended up getting (the puck) full speed and made a nice play, shot through the screen. It kind of got deflected on the way in there,” Campbell said. “I was just trying to do my best to keep my eye on it, to find it. It was in behind the goalie. I just had an open net to shoot it in.”

That line also produced Maine’s second goal, when Will Merchant flipped a backhander over Katunar. Gendron said the line has been playing superb hockey for a long time without a lot of points to show for it.

“That line finally got its just desserts. They earned it,” he said.

Said Campbell: “It’s nice to finally contribute to the score.”

Shore’s goal held up for only 3 minutes. Notre Dame center Vince Hinostroza fired a shot on Morris that caromed out to Mario Lucia, who easily slid it into the net for his 18th goal of the season.

After the second period, Jackson replaced Katunar with freshman Cal Petersen. He and Morris were solid through the ensuing 25 minutes as the game suddenly settled into a defensive affair.

It was the third consecutive overtime game, and second straight tie, for Maine. The Black Bears tied Connecticut 2-2 on Sunday.

“It’s that time of year in a really deep league, where points are very precious. Everyone wants those points really badly,” Shore said of his team’s run of close games.

Maine put 10 shots on Petersen, including two by Merchant in the overtime. Morris also made 10 saves in the final 25 minutes, just one in overtime, as both teams seemed to become more cautious.

“Naturally, guys were a little more focused on defense and not making careless errors when you’re tired,” Shore said.

“I think we played well enough to win, but that’s hockey. A lot of times the results don’t reflect exactly how well you played. … If you keep playing a certain way over time, it should even itself out.”

Notre Dame (11-14-4, 6-5-4), playing its first game in Maine since 1991, got three assists from Hinostroza but was outshot 39-24.

Gendron, though not satisfied with another tie, praised his players for their effort.

“We basically captured the momentum by using speed and puck movement and winning battles and shooting pucks. We were up on our toes most of the (second) period. That’s how we want to play,” he said.

“We played a real good game. And we needed to get five goals and we didn’t.”

The teams meet again here at 7 p.m. Saturday.