ORONO, Maine — University of Maine hockey coach Ben Barr expected Quinnipiac to crank up its game on Sunday afternoon after his Black Bears had stunned the nation’s third-ranked Bobcats 4-0 on Saturday night.
He was right.
The opportunistic and efficient Bobcats scored four goals on nine shots in the second period and cruised to a 6-2 victory over UMaine to salvage a split of the weekend series.
Quinnipiac is now 3–1-2 while UMaine fell to 2-3.
Quinnipiac was the preseason choice to win the ECAC league title and is seeking its fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance.
Quinnipiac’s Desi Burgart opened the scoring five minutes into the game on the power play, but Brandon Holt equalized on a UMaine power play just 1:37 later.
The teams entered the second period tied, but senior center Skyler Brind’Amour, son of Carolina Hurricanes head coach Rod Brind’Amour, began a flurry of goals for Quinnipiac just 45 seconds into the period.
Brind’Amour gave the Bobcats a lead they would never relinquish when he took a Michael Lombardi pass as he busted down the left wing. He was able to get half a step on UMaine defenseman Jakub Sirota and fired a wrist shot from the inner half of the left faceoff circle and beat UMaine goalie Victor Ostman.
Victor Czerneckianair made it 3-1 courtesy of a fortunate bounce. Cristophe Tellier snapped the puck towards the net and it hit Sirota’s stick and deflected to the middle of the low slot, and Czerneckianair swept the rebound inside the far post.
Just 45 seconds later, Jacob Quillian extended the lead to 4-1 when he took a pass from T.J. Friedmann, used his speed to split a pair of defensemen and wristed the puck past Ostman from the base of the left faceoff circle.
Collin Graf capped the spree with a one-timer from the left faceoff circle off a nifty cross-ice pass from Charles-Alexis Legault.
Cole Hanson’s shorthanded goal for UMaine in the third period cut the lead to 5-2, but Quinnipiac’s Jayden Lee added an insurance goal later in the period.
Quinnipiac’s Yaniv Perets finished with 33 saves while Ostman, who had shut out the Bobcats on Saturday, wound up with 26.
UMaine will open Hockey East play at home against preseason favorite Northeastern University on Friday and Saturday nights at 7 p.m.