Seven's heaven.

A hatty for Harry sweeps the Alfond clean of River Hawk feathers.

The Maine Black Bears offense erupted Saturday night, rattling off seven goals in an explosive 7-2 victory over the Massachusetts Lowell River Hawks at Alfond Arena.

Before the opening puck drop, the capacity Alfond crowd paid its respects to Andy Britt, a dedicated season-ticket holder for over forty years who sadly passed away earlier in the week. For many of the Alfond Faithful, Britt represented the dedication and passion of the Maine hockey community to a tee, traveling far and wide to cheer on his beloved Black Bears through thick and thin, including multiple stops in Alaska and to both National Championship-winning games in 1993 and 1999. Recognized by fellow fans an integral piece of the Alfond fabric since the program's creation, Britt played a fundamental role in nourishing the soul and spirit of Black Bear Nation that we see on display with every game day.

The Black Bears, although victorious over the River Hawks Friday night, knew they would have to be much improved against a well-coached Lowell side that frustrated Maine and would look to make their own adjustments. Friday night saw the Black Bears struggle to break down Lowell's stingy defense and dictate the game's flow to their liking while gifting Lowell too many scoring opportunities from their own unforced mental errors.

Saturday night, Head Coach Ben Barr sent a message to his team with a rather extensive overhaul of his lineup. Bodie Nobes was replaced by Jack Dalton, who had just joined the team earlier in the week after starting the season in junior hockey's NAHL with New Mexico. Barr also switched up his third forward line, replacing Félix Trudeau and Reid Pabich with Parker Lindauer and Nicholas Niemo.

Barr’s Saturday switch-up had one clear goal: to ignite his team's play, which had been staggering of late. Maine's last five games — against Colgate, UConn, and now Lowell — had seen the Black Bears struggle to adapt their game plan and identity when challenged by these big, heavy teams whose tight defensive structure and physical presence ground down Maine's offensive production. The usually free-flowing Black Bear attack, which utilizes open ice with rapid speed and creative puck movement to score in droves, has been negated of late when forced to adopt a more gritty style putting pucks in deep, battles down low to win the puck back, and establishing a net-front presence.

While Maine scored four non-empty-net goals Friday night, they resulted from individual moments of magic that cannot be relied upon to be reproduced to get the Black Bears over the line on consecutive nights, especially against a Lowell team that is guaranteed to make adjustments and limit Maine's time and space with the puck.

The Black Bears must commit to utilizing the dirty areas of the ice to manufacture their chances.

Albin Boija was given the nod, starting between the pipes over Friday's starter, Victor Ostman, who played well but had a few shaky moments. Maine's rotation of their goaltending tandem helped keep Ostman and Boija fresh and focused. In contrast, Lowell was forced to start with Luke Pavicich again after an injury to the River Hawks' number one netminder Henry Welsch kept him out over the weekend,

After giving up the first goal just minutes into three out of the four previous games, Maine could not start out on the backfoot if they hoped to minimize Lowell's ability to dictate the game right off the bat.

But an eerie feeling of deja vu drifted throughout the Alfond crowd, who were frustrated but not shocked to see Lowell's first shot of the game get slotted past Boija just under two minutes into the contest. The goal came from a bad Maine pass in the neutral zone, allowing the River Hawks to convert on the odd-man transition using a series of crisp passes through the Black Bears' exposed defense.

Of late, it feels as though Maine, so determined to get off to a fast start, has been over-eager in trying to grab the lead, forcing passes that aren't there, resulting in bad turnovers and handing their opponents the momentum.

The early Lowell goal gave the River Hawks the encouragement to go after Maine, as the opening five minutes of the game had the Black Bears on their heels. Lowell, with the early impetus, outskated and outbattled Maine, who always looked a step behind Lowell, in their command of the early portion of the game.

The early deficit sucked the energy out of the barn, as the team played off the crowd's low energy with a lethargic opening minutes performance of their own. The unfilled student section, a rarity for a Saturday evening, certainly did not help fuel the Black Bears on the ice. Even the Naked Five were partially dressed in plaid pajamas, adding to a sleepy Saturday start vibe.

But up stepped Donny Hockey once again.

After his two-goal performance Friday evening, Donovan Houle once again ignited the Alfond's spark. But this time, Maine's momentum wasn't created from the senior's stick but from the body of the big Québécois.

Houle was an absolute monster, lighting up River Hawk after River Hawk, sending Lowell's skaters flying to the ice like a bowling ball slamming into the pins. Not only did Houle's explosive physical play jolt the crowd into a boisterous buzz, it also triggered his teammates to jump on the train, all soon following with charged checks of their own.

Houle, known to be one of the hardest workers in the Black Bears' weight room, has elevated his game to new heights in recent weeks thanks to his outstanding on-ice work ethic and off-ice preparation. Getting off to a slow start earlier this season compared to his lofty standards, Houle has found his stride recently and then some. Not only has he recaptured the elite scoring touch seen last season, but his defensive responsibility has earned him the right to play in all types of situations. Penalty kill, powerplay, even strength, doesn't matter. Houle's leadership, through the example he sets, shows that he is as essential to Maine's success as any other Black Bear.

Saturday night proved this to be true as Houle's body blows triggered fellow Black Bears to follow suit and soon the Alfond's rafters were shaking with the rattling of River Hawks being plastered into the boards.

The bear was now out of hibernation, fully awake and hungry for a piece of River Hawk.

Through this dogged physical presence, the Black Bears stole the momentum from the River Hawks as quickly as they had previously given it up. The forecheck was clicking, Maine outfought Lowell against the boards, and the Black Bears repeatedly drove towards the net with purpose, causing commotion and creating plenty of Maine chances in the crease.

The Black Bears were buzzing.

While Maine couldn't capitalize on a power play with the ice tilted in their favor, their energetic play continued into a crucial penalty kill with five minutes left in the opening period. With Lowell cycling the puck in Maine's zone, Houle, who was everywhere and anywhere, picked off a Lowell centering pass with a quick defensive stick. He immediately found fellow veteran Ben Poisson, who was breaking up the ice. On a partial short-handed break, the British Columbian fired a hard shot off Pavicich's blocker, before sticking with the play, jumping on the rebound, and sneaking a tight-angle backhand into the net.

The Alfond shook with deafening celebrations.

For the second night in a row, Maine got themselves back in the game with a massively game-changing short-handed goal that no doubt was soul-crushing for the River Hawks to concede.

The first frame ended a few minutes later, with Maine comfortably in the driver's seat. After Lowell's quick goal, it was impressive to see the Black Bears fight through the rocky start and begin to impose themselves on the contest. Maine's ability to command the game's pace and physicality through their unmatched intensity was lacking on Friday but on Saturday night carried the Black Bears into the second period with ever-increasing momentum.

The second period began just as the first ended, with the Black Bears dictating control of the contest through their relentless finishing of hits and hunting of pucks. Maine, who has struggled to establish their presence in front of the net when facing off against bigger, grinding teams, proved to themselves that they could find offensive success when adapting their style of play to a grittier, greasier identity.

To be successful in this modification of their playstyle, Assistant Coach Jason Fortier stressed during the pre-game Keys to the Game that Maine must play with increased intensity, especially in front of Lowell's net. Battling to stay in front of the net, screening the goaltender, and looking for redirections and rebounds through this net-front presence would be critical to the Black Bear's success.

The Black Bears would finally succeed in bearing down in front of the net five minutes into the second period. With not one, but two Black Bears battling hard to stay in front of Lowell's crease, Houle in the high slot dished the puck to defenseman Brandon Holt, creeping down from the right point. Holt fired a shot on net through traffic where Thomas Freel had worked so hard to establish himself, positioned perfectly to whack away at the rebound. With Freel hacking at the rebound, Houle crashed the net, jamming the loose puck into the net with certainty.

After weeks of seeing the Black Bears struggle to establish net-front superiority and rely instead on a moment of rare elite goal-scoring touch, having not one but three Black Bears get to this dirty area of the ice to help create Houle's scoring oportunity was a significant sign the team was beginning to transform their game and score different types of goals.

Credit to the River Hawks, however, who didn't back down. Now, down by one, Lowell was forced to come out of their defensive structure and take the fight to Maine. Equally as strong and powerful with the puck on their sticks, Lowell found success in Maine's end by slowly working the puck around the boards, using their strength to shield the puck from Maine and drive to the net. This well-worked cycle game saw the River Hawks cash in on their fightback ability when a slapshot from the point was spilled by Boija. Not able to control the rebound, the River Hawks crashed the net with purpose, jamming away at the loose biscuit. The Black Bear defenders couldn't clear the crease as a River Hawk eventually poked the puck into Boija's net during the scramble.

After being the better team through the first period and a half, Maine allowed their opponents to tie the game against the run of play midway through the second period.

From this point forward, the Black Bears made sure to lay down the hammer, refusing to give Lowell any more freebies.

Once again, it all came back to the Black Bears picking up their hitting game as they checked everything that moved. Leading the charge was, of course, Houle, whose collisions ground down Lowell, opening up the River Hawks and allowing his teammates to take advantage.

The great debate from the Alfond Faithful in recent weeks has been Barr's decision to move Harrison Scott between the Nadeau brothers while placing Lynden Breen with Houle and Freel. Those opposing the switch wonder what the point of fixing something that wasn't broken does, arguing that it has hampered the Nadeaus' scoring threat, which has dropped off recently.

Others argue that Breen and the Nadeaus play too similar of a style, which, especially against these heavy teams, has meant they struggled to get going as the opposition physically imposed themselves on the smaller Breen and Nadeaus while collapsing the defensive structure and restricting the passing and shooting lanes that the New Brunsickers look to utilize.

It's similar to the second line, as Houle, Freel, and Scott all play a very similar style of game. They all work incredibly hard and are good at retrieving the puck and winning their one-on-one battles, but as a trio, they might be too one-dimensional to break down these structured defenses.

Flipping Scott and Breen gives each line a new and different ingredient that compliments the skills of the wingers. Breen gives Freel and Houle's line an added creative flavor as Breen excels at reading the defense and setting up his ever-energetic, puck-winning teammates or utilizing his skill to score himself.

Scott's immense physical dominance, puck retrieval skills, incredibly hard work, and faceoff excellence reduce the Nadeaus' responsibility to battle in front of the net and for the puck in the corners. But it allows Scott to excel in the areas of the ice that he dominates in, freeing up Bradly and Josh to put themselves in positions where they can utilize their unteachable, natural scoring ability.

While it took a couple of games for the new-look lines to begin to gel, Barr's tweak certainly paid off on Saturday. The next few minutes saw the Bears blow Lowell away.

Bradly, recovering the puck in the corner, took Lowell's concentration away from center ice. With all the River Hawks stuck puck-watching the super-skilled winger, Scott was able find a quiet area of ice by the right faceoff circle completely undetected as the River Hawks defenders focused on not allowing Bradly to set up Josh. Wide-open, Bradly fed Scott, who got the puck into a shooting position before demonstrating his own wicked wrister with a blistering shot over Pavichich's glove.

Lowell challenged the goal for offsides, which was deemed unsuccessful after an incredibly lengthy review.

"Let's play hockey," sang the restless student section.

The Black Bears agreed and wouldn't let the long delay break their momentum, as just a few seconds after the restart, it was the Scott and Nadeau line clicking once again. Josh Nadeau raced into the zone, getting off a pass to find his brother before being thrown to the ice. Bradly, freshly back into the play after getting a new stick from the bench, placed a perfect pass to the back post, where a charging Scott was crashing the net and able to bury the puck just twenty-three seconds after he scored Maine's go-ahead goal. Netfront presence shows its importance once again.

Now, up by two, the Black Bears refused to let up, smelling the River Hawks' blood in the water. This time, Brandon Holt lit the lamp for Maine. Holt was so impressive in his one-on-one defensive play guarding against the rush, never letting a River Hawk past him, who displayed his great poise from the point. Walking the blueline, Holt could change the angle and fire a puck through the traffic in front of the net. Freel and Houle were set up perfectly to screen the Lowell goaltender, who never saw the puck before it was sniped into the net behind him.

The sophomore defensemen's fourth goal of the season was the highlight of a vastly improved performance from all of Maine's blueliners. Friday night saw Maine's defensemen struggle to breakout through Lowell's neutral zone forecheck, resulting in low-percentage stretch passes being picked off. But Saturday night, Maine's defensemen were much better at springing the Black Bear breakout by moving their feet and beating the first forechecker, this opened up the previously clogged neutral zone and allowed the Black Bears to generate speed through center ice.

Jack Dalton, a former teammate of Holt in New Mexico, got his collegiate career going with a strong start. While the freshman from Illinois didn't see too much ice time, when he was called upon, he did not look out of place at all. Dalton was smart with the puck and held his blueline well, showing that he was not overmatched against higher-level opponents than he was used to.

With everything going Maine's way heading into the third period, the Black Bears would be tasked with killing off a five-minute penalty after Parker Lindauer was tossed from the game for slew-footing. It was a soft call from the referees, but Maine didn't let the officials interfere with their mojo.

"I'm Tired Of These Zebras" read the backs of the Naked Five Saturday night.

Maine's penalty kill, which has quietly become a strength for the Black Bears, had a perfect weekend, killing off all eight of Lowell's power plays, including this five-minute major, and scoring short-handed goals on two separate occasions.

The extended penalty kill saw Maine continue creating plenty of offense and seeing their fair share of the puck. When defending, Maine excelled at creating a wall of Black Bear bodies defending their blueline, never giving Lowell the ability to gain the zone cleanly and set up. When the River Hawks did create rare flurries of offense, Boija shut them down.

Boija, apart from Lowell's second goal, was faultless once again. He never looks phased in net, even when put under pressure. His calm demeanor transfers to his teammates in front of him and throughout all of the Alfond Faithful watching him make save after save look effortless.

Lowell grew increasingly frustrated and flustered after failing to score on the five-minute power play. A boneheaded double minor saw a River Hawk lose his temper after being called for roughing for purposely tripping Josh Nadeau well after the whistle. It earned him an extra two minutes in the sin-bin with an unsportsmanlike conduct call added to his sentence.

Not only demoralized, the River Hawks, down by three midway through the final period, were forced to ditch their defensive structure, aggressively throwing men forward, hoping to get back into the game. But the Black Bears, who play their best when the opposition comes out to challenge them head-on, utilized the open ice to pick apart the Lowell defense with surgical precision.

Maine now had the freedom to work the puck around the Lowell zone with much more time and space, putting the nail in Lowell's coffin. Scott, circling the puck to the top of the right faceoff circle uncontested, banked a shot off the post and into the back of the net, sending dozens of hats raining down onto the Alfond ice. While the addition of the Nadeau brothers has rightfully taken the spotlight for Maine's most significant additions this year, the junior transfer from San Jose has been one of the most underrated players in Hockey East.

Scott is vital in keeping the Maine machine running smoothly, and it is so deserving that he was rewarded with a hat trick for his tireless effort this season.

With the Maniaks taunting the River Hawks' bench, Maine would tack on one more score, equalling their season-high seventh goal and chasing Pavichich with the crooked number. This time, it was Sully Scholle getting in on the act. After missing a wide-open goal in the first period and being denied on a breakaway in the second, the third time was the charm. Anthony Calafiore tenaciously held the puck in Maine's zone before finding Sholle, who sent the Alfond Faithful home happy with a silky smooth finish over the netminder's shoulder.

The assist was Calafiore's first career point and Scholle's fourth goal since the team come back from Christmas break, signifying a return to Maine's depth in offensive production not seen since the Ledyard Classic at the end of December.

It also signified what could be a huge turning point for the Black Bears. After struggling to adapt their game to break down these types of teams designed to hinder a creative, free-flowing attack like Maine's, the Black Bears showed the country, but most importantly themselves, that they could be flexible and find scoring success against any type of team.

And did they ever prove it.

Still undefeated at Fortress Alfond and now pulling away from the pack in the Hockey East standings, the Black Bears can set their sights on chasing down Boston College and the conference's second spot.

The sweep also brought the Black Bears closer to earning an outright bid to the National Tournament. Maine likely only needs a couple more wins to solidify their spot in the tournament, which would be their first appearance in the big dance since 2012.

But the Black Bears will aim their sights far higher than that.

Saturday’s win proved they are a multidimensional team that can adjust to the opponent, they are back on track just in time for the season's most crucial stretch.

Now, with a bye week to rest after a grueling stretch of highly physical games, the Black Bears can hone their skills and prepare themselves for the season's final push.

The Black Bears have everything to play for.

The sky's the limit.