ORONO, Maine — The No. 5 Boston University men's ice hockey team dropped an overtime contest, 5-4, to the No. 12 Maine Black Bears at Alfond Arena Friday night.
 
The Terriers (3-4-1, 1-2-0 HE) had four separate leads throughout the night, but could not maintain them. Maine (4-2-1, 1-0-0 HE) answered each goal BU scored and ultimately found the winner first in the extra frame, coming back from deficits of 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 4-3.
 
BU sophomore Cole Hutson opened the scoring in the first period at 3:15, but was immediately answered just four seconds later by the Black Bears. Then sophomore Ryder Ritchie scored his third goal of the season on a power play at 8:28 in the first and the Terriers took a 2-1 lead into the second.
 
Maine took 7:01 to knot the game at 2-2 in the second. It was then Terrier freshman Ben Merrill's turn to give BU an advantage, backhanding a shot over a face-down Maine goaltender, Albin Boija, at 14:27. The Black Bears would get a tip-in at 16:47 to continue the see-saw madness and enter the third period tied 3-3.
 
Both teams scored once in the third, with BU sophomore Sascha Boumedienne flinging home his second goal of the year at 4:05, before Maine tied it at 7:00. The teams would stay knotted over a tense final 13 minutes, but all that tension snapped in the Alfond when Maine scored just 44 seconds into the overtime frame.
 
Hutson was the Terriers' only multi-point scorer, with 11 different Terriers finding their names on the scoresheet. In net, sophomore Mikhail Yegorov made 30 saves on 35 shots, and on Maine's side, Boija stopped 24-of-28 shots.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• Freshman Jonathan Morello used a forecheck to dispossess the Black Bears of the puck and gave freshman John McNelis and Hutson a 2-on-1 opportunity that Hutson took advantage of, putting BU up 1-0.
• It only took four seconds for Maine to respond, as Justin Poirier found the back of the net for the Black Bears to tie it.
• BU had another goal up its sleeve in the first, however, as immediately after a Maine boarding penalty at 8:19, Ritchie flipped a backhand past the sprawling Maine netminder, Albin Boija, and gave the Terriers a 2-1 advantage.
• The squads traded penalties at 10:09 and 10:56, but neither team could take advantage of the other's miscue.
• The Terriers took another penalty with just over five minutes left in the first, and BU almost paid for it as Maine had a grade-A chance on a cross-crease pass, but Yegorov slid over for a highlight-worthy stop.
• With 12:59 remaining in the second, Sully Scholle tipped in a shot the boards and tied the game for the Black Bears again.
• Ritchie had a chance to bite back and get his second of the night at 10:44 in the second, as he drove to the crease on a breakaway, but this backhanded was smothered by a more poised Boija.
• Junior Aiden Celebrini registered a shot from the blue line with 5:35 remaining in the second period that was turned aside by Boija, but the rebound fell onto freshman Jack Murtagh's stick and he was able to slide it to Merrill for his first career goal, giving BU a 3-2 lead.
• In yet another second-period answer, the Black Bears perfectly executed a 3-on-2 opportunity and found a wide-open Owen Fowler at the far post.
• With just 38 seconds remaining, Maine forward Miguel Marques found a bouncing puck and squeezed through the Terrier blueliners on a breakaway, but Yegorov was up to the task.
• In a tale as old as the previous 44 minutes, the Terriers retook the lead 4:05 into the third period off Boumedienne's goal, which ricocheted off a Black Bear and fluttered past the goaltender.
• Poirier tied it one more time as Poirier stuffed home a shot that went off the back wall to make it 4-4 with 13:03 remaining.
• The game went to overtime as neither side could find the difference-maker in regulation.
• 44 seconds into overtime, the Black Bears scored on a 2-on-1 opportunity.

GAME NOTES

• Ritchie now has registered a point in six of his eight games as a Terrier.
• His foal was his second power-play goal of the season.
• Hutson's multi-point game is his third this season, leading the team.
• He is now up to 10 points in eight games, the fastest of any Terrier this season.
• Merrill's goal was his first as a Terrier — he became the seventh newcomer to score a goal this season.
• The Terriers were outshot 35-28.
• BU was perfect on the penalty kill, successfully halting all five Maine power plays.

UP NEXT

• The Terriers return to the Alfond Saturday night as they finish up the series with the Black Bears.
• Puck drop is slated for 7:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live on NESN.