ORONO, Maine -- Brian Flynn's (Lynnfield, Mass.) second goal of the game, 48 seconds into overtime, propelled the University of Maine men's ice hockey team to a 4-3 victory over visiting Providence College on Friday evening at Alfond Arena. The win moves Maine to 10-6-4 and 7-4-2 in Hockey East action while Providence falls to 7-9-5 and 3-7-4 in league play. Will O'Neill (Salem, Mass.) and Tanner House (Cochrane, Alberta) each had a pair of assists for Maine in the win.
Just minutes after Spencer Abbott (Hamilton, Ontario) clanged a shot off the post, Jon Swavely (Reading, Pa.) would pick up his first career goal to put Maine on top 1-0. With Maine in the middle of killing off a 7:00 minute penalty, Theo Andersson (Gothenburg, Sweden) cleared the Maine zone and hit Swavely with a pass. Swavely skated short-handed into the Friar zone, using much patience as he carried the puck into the right circle and fired a wristshot that snuck through Providence goaltender Justin Gate's five-hole, 13:18 into the first period.
The Black Bears would extend their lead to 2-0 with 9:14 remaining in the second period on Flynn's 10th goal of the season. The play started when O'Neill fired a shot from the point that was tipped down in front by House. Gates made the initial save but the rebound trickled to his left where Flynn tapped it in glove side.
Providence would cut Maine's lead to 2-1 with 4:08 remaining in the second period when Kyle MacKinnon notched his 11th of the season. MacKinnon received a pass from Ian O'Connor and skated deep into the Maine zone. MacKinnon threw a shot onto the Maine net from a tough angle deep in the left circle. The shot snuck by Maine goaltender Martin Ouellette (St. Hippolyte, Quebec), cutting Maine's lead in half. Myles Harvey also assisted on the play for the Friars.
Maine would again gain a two goal advantage when Abbott cashed in for his 12th goal of the season. With just 10 seconds remaining in the second period, Flynn sent a pass back to the Abbott on the blue line. Abbott would slide a pass across the blue line to O'Neill, who would slide it right back to Abbott who unleashed a rocket that lit the lamp, putting Maine up 3-1 heading into the third period of play.
Providence would inch within a goal once again just 1:22 into the third period when Jordan Kremyr forced a turnover at center ice and skated in on Ouellette, firing a wrist shot into the back of the net.
The Friars tied things up with 3:44 remaining in regulation, once again off a Maine turnover. Chris Rooney forced a turnover behind the Maine net before sliding a pass out to Tim Schaller where Schaller would notched his fourth goal of the season to knot things up at three goals a piece.
The Black Bears would waste no time grabbing the win in overtime as they put pressure on Gates early into the overtime period before Flynn would light the lamp for his second goal of the night, 48 seconds into the extra frame. Gustav Nyquist (Malmo, Sweden) would slide a pass to House who fired a shot at the Friar net. Gates would kick the shot away but Flynn would gather the rebound, kicking the puck to himself in front before flicking a shot into the back of the net to give Maine the 4-3 victory.
Ouellette picks up his third win of the season as he moves to 3-2-1 overall after making 14 saves in the win. Gates drops to 1-1-0 on the season after making 35 saves in the contest. The Black Bears outshot Providence by a 39-17 margin and finished at 1-4 on the power play after killing off all four of the Friars man-advantages.
The Black Bears return to action Sunday evening at 7 p.m. when they host #3/3 Boston College at Alfond Arena.