Maine’s first road series of the season concluded Saturday night with the Quinnipiac Bobcats battling their way to redemption over the Black Bears in Hamden, Connecticut, earning a series split.

Maine came into Saturday’s game off the back of a dramatic 2-1 Black Bear overtime victory against the defending national champions the night before. The Black Bears, while I’m sure quietly confident after their upset win, knew that a better performance would be needed to beat the 5th best team in the country over consecutive nights.

Although Maine got the better of Quinnipiac the night before, it was not the Black Bear’s best performance. Quinnipiac’s defense stifled the Maine offense for large portions of Friday’s game, and misplayed pucks caused the Bobcats plenty of offensive zone time, which Maine had to use every ounce of energy to soak up.

Barr and his team knew that the high-quality Bobcat talent wouldn’t allow the Black Bears to get away with the same mistakes two nights in a row. Saturday’s performance would have to be much improved.

Not only did sloppy mistakes in the neutral zone need to be eliminated, but Barr noted in his pregame Keys to the Game segment that offensively, Maine would need to drastically improve as well. Instead of Barr’s forwards trying to create scoring opportunities from the rush — which Quinnipiac’s defense was able to shut down all night Friday — he wanted to see more willingness and effort from his forwards to grind away and battle in the corners of the offensive zone in order to have more success at creating sustained offensive zone time and pressure.

The Maine lineup remained largely unchanged from the previous night, with the only change being a fourth-line swap of Sully Scholle coming in for Nicholas Niemo. On the back end, solid defenseman Brandon Holt again missed out due to a lower-body injury.

At the opening puck drop of Saturday night’s contest, both benches were full of energy, banging their sticks on the boards to fire up their teammates on the ice. This spark caused both sides to come out ferociously attacking each other in a physical back-and-forth start to the game.

Barr’s pregame words demanding an increase in his team’s willingness to battle down low was heard loud and clear by Maine’s fourth line. The relentless energy and persistence from the young line of Félix Trudeau, Cole Hanson, and Sully Scholle quickly paid dividends on the scoresheet. Seven minutes into the game, a Black Bear dump-in saw Hanson out-battle the Bobcat defender in the corner before Trudeau and Scholle supported the play down-low, quickly moving the puck to the point where big captain David Breazeale thundered a slapshot past the Quinnipiac goaltender.

The goal silenced the Quinnipiac crowd, the only cheering coming from the large smattering of Black Bear fans scattered around the rink. For the first half of the opening period, Maine looked like the better team, and although Black Bear goaltender Victor Ostman had to come up with a couple big saves, Maine’s direct and hard-nosed play allowed the Bears to dictate the pace of the play and create the majority of scoring substance.

But just a minute after the Black Bears took the lead, Maine lost both their momentum and scoreboard advantage. A misdirected Maine pass led to an icing, forcing a tired group of Black Bears to stay on the ice. Quinnipiac took advantage right off the following face-off as the fatigued Black Bear forwards couldn’t get out to the point quick enough to block the Quinnipiac shot, which found its way past a screened Ostman to tie the game for the hosts.

The Bobcat goal gave the defending national champions a confidence boost as Quinnipiac started to really find their offensive flair late in the first period. The precision and speed to which they could pass the puck around Maine sticks forced the Black Bears to run around in their d-zone, desperately trying to cope with the Bobcat attack.

The second period saw Maine unable to reclaim the game’s momentum as the Bobcats looked much more full of energy, outplaying Maine in most facets of the game.

Offensively, the Bobcats showed why they were the defending champions and a popular pick by many to repeat this year. Their control and speed during offensive cycles set up grade-a opportunity after grade-a opportunity that Maine had to scramble to desperately stop. Their balance of creativity and directness on the cycle created constant movement that stretched the Maine defense. This allowed a lot of openings for Quinnipiac to set up cute little plays where they would put the puck into open spaces looking for a cutting Bobcat to deflect a shot onto the net.

The threat of the Quinnipiac attack was always present, even when Maine had the puck in their offensive zone. The Bobcats excelled at taking advantage of any Black Bear mistake, feeding off every misplay to charge up the ice and create a scoring chance for themselves. A bad pass from Maine’s Donovan Houle at the point gave the puck right to a streaking Bobcat forward, who was able to outskate the Black Bear defense through the neutral zone and score on the breakaway at the start of the second period to give the Bobcats their first lead of the weekend.

Ostman, though, kept Maine in the game, standing strong against the barrage of Quinnipiac attacks throughout the second period, giving his team a chance in the game. Maine had a few decent opportunities of their own in the second period, including a Luke Antonacci shot that rang off the post and somehow didn’t trickle into the net during the mad scramble in the crease that followed. But these moments of true offensive substance were inconsistent on the night.

The Bobcats, late in the second period, would finally extend their lead to 3-1 on an incredibly skilled wrap-around goal from Freshman Mason Marcellus, scoring his 4th collegiate goal in only his 2nd game, putting the defending national champions in the driver’s seat.

Heading into the third period, Maine would need to find the same offensive form that was present in the third period of the previous night. The Black Bear team looked energized coming onto the ice for the start of the final frame, certainly spurred on by the coaching staff’s less-than-pleased criticism of their play that was more than likely handed out to them in the locker room.

The Black Bears came out strong, flying into big hits, especially from the skilled line of Josh Nadeau, Bradly Nadeau, and Lynden Breen, showing that no Maine player was immune to the dirty work needed to spark the offense. But the Black Bear offense sputtered as Quinnipiac’s top-ranked veteran defense soaked up the pressure, keeping Maine at arm’s length.

The Black Bears couldn’t utilize the speed and skill from their best attacking forwards to gain the zone on the rush as the Bobcat defense suffocated any fastbreaks at the blue line. Neither was Maine successful at grinding down the defense on dump and chases. Quinnipiac, time after time, outnumbered the Maine forecheck down-low, using this numerical advantage to easily take the puck from the Bears, who couldn’t get enough men to pressure the Quinnipiac’s defensemen fast enough.

However, Maine was given a clear route back into the game as Quinnipiac forward Andon Cerebone was called for a 5-minute penalty for contact to the head, incensing the Bobcat bench and head coach Rand Pecknold, who could be heard all over the rink screaming at the officials.

But Maine’s powerplay struggled, only able to get one shot on net during the extended man advantage, leaving the Maine powerplay 0-for-11 over the weekend. Brandon Holt, who usually quarterbacks the play at the top of the umbrella formation during the powerplay, was sorely missed this weekend. David Breazeale spelled him on the top PP unit as the lone defenseman, but like the rest of the powerplay, he struggled to keep the puck in the zone. The Bobcats’ penalty kill successfully cleared the puck down the ice with ease all weekend.

Quinnipiac’s sheer willingness and strong positional play further hindered any Maine attacks as the Bobcat forwards excelled in routinely sacrificing their bodies to stop Maine shots. This immensely restricted Maine’s top goal-scoring threats from using their strong shooting; time after time, a Quinnipiac skater would get in the way of any threatening looks from the Black Bears, not allowing the space for a shot to reach the net.

With only a few minutes left in the game and desperate for any offense after the 5-minute powerplay failed, an empty Maine net saw the puck trickle in from a Bobcat clearance in their own zone, which created an absurdly unlucky bounce to send Quinnipiac to a 4-1 victory and avoid the weekend sweep.

The Maine bench looked crestfallen. Drooped heads and the frustrated slamming of sticks showed that the team knew they got beat and outplayed in every aspect of the contest.

It showed that this Maine team knew they could play better. Although, splitting the series away from home with the defending national champions and 5th ranked team in the country is certainly something to be proud of, as it is a massive step in the right direction for the program. This reaction shows that the team has higher expectations for themselves.

They not only expect that they can beat the best teams in the country. They clearly believe they can, too.

The Black Bears travel to Merrimack next weekend to open up Hockey East play. This is another tough road test and another opportunity for this team and program to continue its progression to the next level.

The fact that Maine did not play their best hockey and yet could still come away with a series split against a team as good as Quinnipiac should be seen as a significant positive. Good teams know how to win hockey games without playing well.

And this can be a very good team.