ORONO — They were playing the University of Massachusetts, a team tied for last place in Hockey East. But the University of Maine could hardly get complacent … it was the team tied with UMass.

Maine was outplayed at times but topped UMass 4-1 on Friday night before an announced crowd of 3,986 at Alfond Arena.

Nolan Vesey, Daniel Perez, Cedric Lacroix and Patrick Shea scored for Maine. Rob McGovern made 28 saves.

Maine improved to 9-13-3 overall and 3-9-1 in Hockey East. UMass dropped to 5-18-2, 2-10-1, and has lost 11 of its last 12 games.

The Minutemen came out hard and were outshooting Maine 10-3 at one point but trailed 2-0.

“Our goaltender (Ryan Wischow) is not happy with himself and I’m not happy with him, either,” UMass Coach Greg Carvel said.

“I thought we played pretty well. The difference in the game is that Maine was much better around the net on both ends.”

UMass entered the game ranked last in Hockey East in scoring (2.0 goals a game), which was also second-to-last in the nation. In their last 12 games the Minutemen have scored 15 goals.

The Minutemen collected 29 shots to Maine’s 31 but were not able to charge the net for second chances, and they don’t have any snipers. McGovern was busy and solid but didn’t have to stand on his head.

Maine began the game with one of its troubling trends – recording its first of seven penalties. Cam Brown skated off for tripping just 31 seconds into the game. But not only is UMass the worst offensive team in the league, it’s also worst on the power play.

Maine killed the penalty and scored 30 seconds later. In a spirited scrum in front of the UMass goal, Perez took a swipe at the puck, sending it in at 3:01.

UMass was 0 of 7 on the power play. Maine’s power play has improved lately (28 percent in its last six games), and the Black Bears were 2 of 3 on Friday.

Maine converted its first power-play chance to take a 2-0 lead. Vesey skated untouched into the right circle, and with Lacroix screening goalie Ryan Wischow, Vesey scored with a shot to the short side at 8:00.

“We weren’t as sharp as we could have been,” Maine Coach Red Gendron said. “We battled through the mistakes we made.”

UMass almost scored in the first period. Several players crashed the Maine crease, resulting in a pileup with several players going down, including McGovern. The puck popped out of the pile and Marc Hetnik somehow found an opening for what would have been his first goal of the season.

But after a review, the goal was disallowed because of goalie interference, keeping the score 2-0.

After a scoreless second period, UMass closed to 2-1 in the first minute of the third when defenseman William Lagesson scored on a slap shot past a screened McGovern. But Maine got its two-goal cushion back at 8:33 when Lacroix rebounded his own shot and stuffed it in with five seconds left on a power play.

Shea iced it with his goal at 16:19.

Kevin Thomas can be reached at 791-6411 or:

kthomas@pressherald.com

Twitter: KevinThomasPPH

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