Orono, ME – The University of Maine men’s ice hockey team is finding new ways to get into the win column as their penalty kill proved to be key in a 3-1 victory over Providence College at the Alfond Arena on Friday night.

“(Gustav) Nyquist was the spark; Scott (Darling) was the brick wall, and our penalty kill was improved,” Maine’s head coach Tim Whitehead said.

In the first period, Providence were the beneficiary of five power play’s, but Maine did a much better job at shutting down the Friars’.

“We had 10 shots on eight power play’s, that’s not good enough” said Providence College head coach Tim Army said. “Maine’s penalty kill worked harder than our powerplay.”

Providence opened the scoring at 6:01 of the second period when freshmen Tim Schaller launched a one-timer from the slot by Maine goalie Scott Darling.

Right off the ensuing face off, Gustav Nyquist skated into Providence’s zone, beating goalie Alex Beaudry on the short side only 14 seconds after Schaller’s tally.

“(Beaudry) really didn’t see me,” Nyquist said. “I came in one-on-two; I just pulled it back to my fore-hand and shot as quick as possible. I didn’t see the puck, I just shot it.”

Usually it’s been the opponent who kill the Black Bears momentum after scoring a goal. This time, they feel like they’re getting the lucky bounces.

“It was great to see a bounce back goal,” Whitehead said. “That was a type of goal that went in on us in October.”

Nyquist gave Maine the 2-1 lead with 10:24 remaining in the second period as Brian Flynn made a cross ice pass to Tanner House, who dropped it to Nyquist in the slot where he found the back of the net with a nifty wrist shot.

“We kind of had a cycle going down low and we lost the puck,” added Nyquist. “(Brian) Flynn stayed high and (Providence) tried to force it up the middle. Flynn picked it off passed it to (Tanner) House on the right side then back to me.”

Only 57 seconds into the third period, Nyquist appeared to have score a hat trick, but the referees ruled no goal on the play as the puck was kicked in by Nyquist’s skate.

Matt Mangene capped off the scoring with an empty net goal, his first collegiate goal, with 41 seconds left in the game.

Black Bears goalie Scott Darling made 22 saves for his seventh victory of the season. Alex Beaudry made 27 stops for the Friars in the loss.

Maine was 0-for-4 on the man advantage, while Providence went 0-for-8 on the powerplay.

The announced attendance was 4,157.