Maine 10, St. Lawrence 1
PORTLAND, Maine — St. Lawrence’s trip to play the University of Maine ended with a 10-1 loss, the worst defeat since SLU lost 12-3 to Colorado College in 1997.
That game, too, was played in Maine.
Maine’s first line of Brian Flynn, Tanner House and Gustav Nyquist combined for five goals and six assists. The Black Bears scored on five-of-seven power-play opportunities.
The Saints, who have now lost eight of their last nine to the Black Bears, fell behind early after Maine came out firing in the first period with five unanswered scores.
The 5-0 lead after one could have been greater had not SLU goalie Alex Petizian made some big saves along the way.
Maine’s Robby Dee opened the scoring with a goal a mere 29 seconds into the game, rifling a shot into the upper right corner off a Saint turnover in front of Petizian.
Dee helped make it 2-0, finding Tanner House for a power-play score. House scored his sixth of the year with a slapshot past Petizian.
Gustav Nyquist got it to 3-0 with an all-alone attack on Petizian. Nyquist pounded it past Petizian from the post. Ryan Hegarty got the assist at 9:54.
Maine added two power-play goals in the final 5:11 of the frame. Brian Flynn scored down low at 14:46 and Dee netted his second of the game, banking a shot off the crossbar at 17:58.
The Black Bears (6-7-1 overall) outshot the Saints 11-6 in the period with a 10-1 advantage in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Maine continued its onslaught in the second period as Joey Diamond greeted the Saints new goalie, Kain Tisi, with a low shot that slid inside the far post at 2:02. The Black Bears converted a 5-on-3 power play nine minutes later when defenseman Will O’Neill one-timed his fourth goal of the season. Maine scored of four of its first five power-play chances.
Flynn scored his second of the night at 14:52 of the second to make it 8-0.
The Saints finally scored when Jared Keller netted a power-play goal with assists from Jeff Caister and Aaron Bogosian at 17:14.
The Black Bears tacked on another score when House skated out from behind the net and tucked the puck past Robby Moss, the Saints third goalie of the night. Maine ended the game with its 10th goal at 16:20 when fourth-line winger Theo Anderson notched his first goal of his career.
The Saints (7-6-1) were without three regular contributors, including two on the first forward line. All three should be back as St. Lawrence plays a home-and-home ECAC Hockey series with rival Clarkson.
