Freshman Keith Johnson capped a Maine comeback with his first collegiate goal with 4:57 to play, lifting the fifth-ranked Black Bears to a 3-2 victory over St. Lawrence at Appleton Arena Friday night.
Maine (4-0-0) trailed 2-1 heading into the third period, but dominated the Saints with a 15-5 edge in shots on goal and tied the game just 1:28 into the period on a power-play goal by sophomore Greg Moore.
The Saints (1-3-2) received an outstanding performance in goal by junior Kevin Ackley, who finished with 35 saves, but are now winless in their last five starts. The two teams will play the second game of the weekend series on Saturday evening.
The Saint power play, which came into the game scoring at just a 8.1 percent clip, went two for two in the first period to give St. Lawrence a 2-1 lead.
John Zeiler scored the first goal on a tip of Rich Peverley’s shot from the slot at 3:34. After Maine junior Ben Murphy tied it at 10:39 on a nifty move right in front, Saint sophomore T.J. Trevelyan scored his third of the year on another power-play redirection, this one of a shot by freshman Drew Bagnall at 17:26 on the second Saint power play of the period.
Neither team scored in an end-to-end second period with the Saints holding a 13-12 edge in shots on net.
