The second of the two games at Frozen Fenway also ended in overtime, but it didn't end the way UNH head coach Dick Umile or his team wanted it to.
Maine Black Bear Brian Flynn tipped in a shot from Spencer Abbott just 1:29 into the extra five minutes after UNH made a rapid comeback in the third period.
"It feels great to get the win," Flynn said. "I just crashed the net and I’m fortunate it hit my stick and popped over DeSmith’s (UNH goalie) head. It was mostly great to get the win as a team. We’ve been working so hard lately and just sharing the moment with them was special."
The Black Bears have won seven of their last eight games, while the Wildcats continue to struggle in both conference and non-conference games.
The Wildcats got the early jump on the Black Bears, just 1:05 into the game. John Henrion crashed the net and immediately found a hole through Maine netminder Dan Sullivan to put UNH up 1-0.
The lead didn't last long, and the Black Bears had something to say about their early lead. 3:05 later, Mark Anthoine tied it up, taking a pass from Kyle Beattie and putting it in right in front of UNH's Casey DeSmith.
The second period was where Maine dominated though. Once again UNH came up with the first goal of the frame, but it was very short lived, and it started out in an unconventional way.
UNH had four penalties in the second period, and while they managed to kill the first two, the last two came back to bite them.
But not at first.
The Wildcats were down two men for 56 seconds, after Damon Kipp and John Henrion were called for boarding and interference calls respectively. Off the faceoff, Kevin Goumas found himself on the breakaway and put it past Sullivan to take the 2-1 lead once again.
Maine didn't take too kindly to that, and 17 seconds later, Joey Diamond rocked one through DeSmith and 50 seconds after that, Anthoine squeaked one in through DeSmith's five-hole to quickly give the Black Bears the 3-2 lead at 12:34.
The third period looked even more dismal for the Wildcats when Diamond struck again, from the hands of Abbott. Abbott crafted a nifty behind the back pass to Diamond who got it through DeSmith's five hole, putting the Black Bear's up 4-2 just 13 seconds into the final frame.
But UNH showed their grit, and Goumas came back just minutes later, sniping the corner from the left of Sullivan to put UNH within a goal at the three minute mark. They weren't done at that point, and Henrion also decided he wanted to pick up a second goal, this time coming off a deflection. Freshman Grayson Downing shot into traffic in the front of the net to tie up the game with 13:17 left in the third.
"We felt comfortable," Goumas said. "We’ve been in those positions a lot this year. We knew we could battle back. We got one right away and then the other one came quick and we knew it was going to be a game. Unfortunately, we battled all the way through and we had some opportunities. I think [UNH forward] John [Henrion] had a nice shot, but the goalie made a nice save on him and it’s opportunities like that we couldn’t get done."