The good old hockey game is a funny one.

The better team on the ice doesn't always win. Neither does the team that creates more scoring opportunities and is better at limiting the opponents.

It's all about who comes through and executes in the big moments in front of each net when it matters the most.

Simply put, the Boston University Terriers out-executed the Maine Black Bears Saturday night. BU's forwards were more lethal than Maine's, and their goaltender played better.

Going into the game and the weekend as a whole, the Black Bears knew that BU would score plenty of goals, and it was up to their forwards to keep pace with them. Unfortunately for Maine, while their attack succeeded in keeping up with the Terriers, outshooting BU 43-24, BU's goaltender Mathieu Caron played out of this world and stole the game from the Black Bears.

Coupling this with a few defensive breakdowns from the Black Bears and a couple soft goals from the usually rock-solid Victor Ostman, Boston University took the goal-fest 5-4 as the Black Bears comeback came up just short for the second night in a row.

Agganis Arena saw a close-to-sell-out crowd, although late arriving, watch another thrilling game between the #9 Maine Black Bears and the #8 Boston University Terriers.

Maine's performance the night before was frustrating and mistake-filled. Sloppy plays with the puck led to Maine taking penalty after penalty Friday night, which BU made the Black Bears pay for with three power-play goals. Barr called on his unchanged lineup to play with more poise Saturday night to remedy this. Perhaps trying too hard to make the perfect play on Friday, more poise would allow Maine to cut down on their mistakes and make better, smarter plays with the puck on their stick.

The opening period started tight. Both teams looked hyper-focused on limiting the dangers that they saw in each other from the night before. For the most part, they contained each other from breaking into their respective offensive zones, restricting time and space in the neutral zone, which saw the first half of the first period with neither team able to muster much offensive pressure and scoring opportunities.

Creating shooting opportunities against the big and stingy BU defense was hard work. Still, through a grinding game down-low, the Black Bears were able to create flurries of shots, testing the BU goaltender in spades. Unlike Friday night, the Black Bears were able to set up more traffic in front of Caron's eyes as Maine's forwards looked to deflect the puck on any shooting opportunity that presented itself, creating plenty of chaos.

Although Maine's best scoring bursts came from simple dump and chases, it was the intricate passing of Maine's top line that led to the game's first goal. Maine's New Brunswick line found rare open ice on their rush through the neutral zone. Lynden Breen gained the zone before centering a pass to an open Josh Nadeau in the high slot. BU's defense collapsed towards Josh, leaving the Maine forward to find his brother, Bradly, open at his favorite spot on the left faceoff dot, where he was able to one-time the perfect pass into the back of the net to give the Black Bears the 1-0 lead halfway through the opening period.

Throughout the night, this poise with the puck was noticeably improved from Friday night. Maine was much cleaner with their breakouts. The Black Bears looked much more patient with the puck, letting the play develop before crisply finding the far-side winger as an outlet to get up the ice.

But then the game started to feel like deja vu.

Just like the night before, as soon as Maine took the lead, they also took an undisciplined penalty. Donovan Houle was the culprit this time, as his tripping penalty gave BU the man advantage. Which, of course, the Terriers took advantage of as Quinn Hutson sniped home a shot past Ostman. Another power-play goal for BU, already their fourth of the series.

Deja vu.

While not creating much-sustained momentum around Maine's net in the first period, Boston University always looked like a team that could score at any moment. But when you have fourteen NHL draft picks in the lineup, goal-scoring opportunities are always present, no matter how controlled the opposing team looks.

The second period, which proved detrimental to the Black Bears the night before, also looked like it was going in the same direction after BU took the lead early in the frame. It was an even-strength goal from a Luke Tuch shot that crept by Ostman low on the ice, proving that the Terriers could also score on even-strength.

The rest of the second period was a weird one.

Both teams' defenses suffocated each other at the blue lines as neither could gain their offensive zone cleanly for much of the period. Neither succeeded in dictating the game by maintaining possession of the puck. They struggled to break each other down and surpass the tight neutral zone with its limited space.

But late in the period, penalties committed by both sides opened up space on the ice. The four-on-four play significantly opened the game wide-open. Sparking this defensive matchup into a frenzy of attacking prowess from both sides.

Each team had grade-a scoring chances as the play went back and forth at breakneck speed. A BU attack at one end was narrowly escaped as the Terrier missed the net on a partial breakaway. Moments later, the Black Bears flew up the other end, resulting in a goal-mouth scramble that saw Maine somehow unable to convert that chaos into a goal. The BU netminder, Caron, started to come into the game during this period of back-and-forth play, thwarting the Black Bear attack repeatedly. During another mad scurry in front of his net, the Black Bears looked destined to score, only for Caron to freeze the puck while sprawled on the ice, covering it with his back and sending the game into the third with BU somehow still up 2-1.

This action-packed late second period sparked each team's feistiness as the third period saw increased big hits and scraps after the whistle, pushing the game to boiling point.

The third frame saw the Black Bears play their best period of the weekend. Stemming from Maine getting the puck down-low and outbattling the Terriers along the boards, Maine was turning the screw. Every scoring opportunity looked more and more destined to go in under the ever-increasing Black Bear pressure.

But the Terriers showed why they are the preseason pick to be the top team in the conference and the nation. Against the run of play, the always-threatening BU offense extended their lead to two goals. David Breazeale broke his stick and was forced to go for a line change. The Terriers saw this opportunity and used their precision on the stretch pass to play in a wide-open BU forward who, on a partial breakaway, could score against the completely exposed Ostman.

Up two goals in the third, the momentum suddenly swung towards the Terriers' favor. But just seconds after the game restarted, they handed Maine a power play. The Black Bears' power play has been one of the only black spots on a terrific beginning to the season for Maine fans. While they scored the night before, this power play opportunity saw the unit's best showing of the season.

For the entire two minutes, the top unit of the Nadeau brothers, Breen, Freel, and Holt, kept the play cycling in BU's zone. The forwards excelled at working down low and setting up good shooting opportunities for each other. At the same time, Holt, the lone defender, didn't let the Terriers clear the puck past him on the blue line and relieve the Black Bear pressure. The constant movement of bodies and passes kept the Terrier penalty kill running around, leaving their positions and allowing Maine to take shot after shot, which Caron heroically dealt with. Just as the man advantage ended and it looked like Maine wasn't going to be able to execute on their plethora of chances, a Lynden Breen slapshot from the point flew into the roof of the net to once cut the lead down to just one with the majority of the third still to play.

The momentum now back with the Black Bears got snatched away as quickly as they had earned it. Not even twenty seconds after Breen's goal, the Terriers seized control of the puck off the faceoff, where Celebrini and the Hutson brothers combined to regain their two-goal lead. It was a defensive breakdown from the Black Bears as Quinn Hutson was left entirely alone in front of Maine's net to bury the goal past Ostman.

Most of Boston University's goals Saturday night could not be blamed on Victor Ostman but rather from defensive miscues that left the Swedish netminder unprotected and out to dry. The same cannot be said for BU's fifth goal. A shot off a pass from behind the goal snuck through under the arm of Ostman, who was anchored to his post. It was a soft goal, really only his first glaring mistake of a solid start to the season for the Senior goalie.

Nonetheless, Barr and the coaching staff removed Ostman from the net for the first time all year. Replacing him with fellow Swede Freshman Albin Boija. I don't think Barr pulled Ostman because of anything overly wrong with his performance, but rather hoping that it would send a wake-up call to his team that they need to play better in front of their goaltender.

The message worked.

Boija was immediately tasked with coming up with a few big saves; the Freshman playing his first collegiate minutes kept the deficit at three. His team in front of him picked up their game as the final ten minutes of the contest had Maine dominate. Now, with nothing to lose, the Black Bears poured on shot after shot, throwing everything they had at the BU goal. The power play was patient and poised. Brandon Holt at the point and Thomas Freel on the right wing combined to find an open Josh Nadeau in the high slot, who rifled a quick shot past Caron to cut the lead to two with over six minutes left to play.

The goal sparked the many Black Bear fans in attendance as chants of "Let's go, Black Bears" rang out around Agganis Arena, pushing their team on for more. While the Terrier fans sat anxiously in silence.

Boston University responded with their own chances, but Boija and the defense kept the Terriers at bay, determined to not let BU answer with another quick goal. Maine forced a BU turnover at the blue line, which allowed Ben Poisson to race in on goal on a breakaway. With a golden opportunity on his stick, Poisson made a fake to his backhand, opening up the net for his forehand. But just as Black Bear fans began to rise in jubilee, the puck rolled on the Senior forward, causing him to whiff on the shot.

But lady luck would quickly turn the tables back towards Maine as only a few moments later, Nicholas Niemo's centering pass bounced off a Terrier skate to catch Caron completely by surprise and secure the Bentley transfer's first goal for his new team.

5-4. The comeback was well and truly on.

The rest of the two minutes left in the game must have felt like an eternity for the Terriers. With the Maine net empty and the extra attacker on, Maine poured on shot after shot, blitzing the BU net. But Caron, who stood on his head all game, made his best and most essential saves during the onslaught of late Maine chances.

The Black Bears didn't let the Terriers release the pressure as they continually kept the puck in the BU zone and pummeled Caron's net with dangerous shots. A howitzer from Bradly Nadeau from the top of the right circle looked destined to go in. It was the hardest shot I've seen from Bradly so far in his time at Maine. But somehow, Caron saw the blur of vulcanized rubber and reacted fast enough to get his blocker on it, sending the Black Bears on and off the ice to look at the heavens in bewilderment. It was his best save of the night, only to be surpassed a few seconds later when a one-timer from Bradly was even more incredibly saved as Caron somehow went post to post fast enough to take the blistering puck off the goal-line.

The seconds ran down on the Maine comeback, and the horn sent the Bostonians into a frenzy of relieved celebration. As soon as the final buzzer sounded, Josh Nadeau, who was battling in the corner, was completely blindsided by a dirty cross-check in his back. The cheapshot triggered a mele as some of the Terriers and Black Bears traded blows while the BU celebrations continued around them.

Mathieu Caron stole the show in what many Terrier fans deemed his coming-of-age performance. The Black Bears played so well, but the bottom line is they simply didn't execute as well as Boston University. While many stats leaned towards Maine being the better team, the scoreboard showed the only stat that mattered. BU 5 Maine 4.

It was a bitter defeat as the Black Bears deserved so much more than zero out of six points over the weekend. But that's hockey. If these games were at the Alfond, I am certain Maine would come away with at least one win.

While the results from this weekend are disappointing, especially after Saturday's strong performance, many positives can be taken away.

Maine played so well; their offense, especially the power play, came alive this series. While their defense is young and has loads of room for improvement, they kept both games close.

Last season, Maine got absolutely pummeled over two games at Agganis Arena. This year, they gave one of the best teams in the country quite a scare in both games, even outplaying them for large portions of Saturday's game.

While they may have ended up with the same amount of points from the weekend as last year, the difference in this team's ability is night and day.

Our Black Bears can compete with any team in the country. When was the last time we could say that?

I think a BU fan summed it up perfectly when I overheard him say: "A sweep over these guys is no small feat."

And he's right. No team, no matter how skilled they are or how many NHL draft picks are on their roster, no team is going to feel comfortable competing with this Maine team. These Black Bears are tenacious and never give up, playing to their maximum effort every night.

Now will be a real test of the Black Bear's culture. Being swept for the first time this season and now winless in three is the first real adversity this team will face. It will be interesting to see how they respond.

I am proud of our Black Bears.

There's no better way to respond than to wallop UNH….