A pair of goals by Cédric Lacroix, including the game-winner at 16:29 of the third period lifted the Maine Black Bears to a 4-1 game-one victory in their best-of-three Hockey East opening-round series against rival UNH on Friday night.
Liam Blackburn gave the Wildcats a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 16:01 of the first period. Brendan Robbins tied the game for Maine just 3:13 into the second and the game remained 1-1 until Lacroix buried the would-be game-winner with 3:31 to play.
Tim Doherty and Lacroix added empty-netters to seal the victory after UNH pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker. The Black Bears will try to conclude the series and advance to the quarterfinals in game-two on Saturday.