Progress is never linear. There are peaks, and there are valleys. Sometimes, even on the same weekend.

While the rest of Hockey East has improved significantly since the start of the season, the Maine Black Bears have struggled to find their next level. The pack of teams behind Maine are all now playing their best hockey of the season, inching ever closer to the Black Bears on the standings board with every passing weekend.

After Maine showcased great resolve in impressively snapping their three-game losing skid Friday night with a high-flying 5-1 victory over the Northeastern Huskies, the visitors bit back on Saturday, steamrolling the Black Bears 4-0 and ending Maine's undefeated-in-regulation-on-home-ice record.

The most lopsided loss on Alfond ice this season, only twenty-four hours after the team's best performance in a month.

Consistently inconsistent, Maine is plateauing.

The inexperienced Black Bears are encountering the neverending slog of a playoff push for the first time. They are working through their kinks, trying to iron themselves out and shift themselves into the next gear in time for the conference playoffs, which suddenly is looming dauntingly on the horizon.

As everyone else surges, Maine treads water.

A noticeable trend has emerged in just about every game the Black Bears have played during February: their opponents are simply playing with more desperation and urgency, outworking the Black Bears, who prided themselves in their own superior work ethic at the beginning of the season.

This makes complete sense, considering that the margin for error amongst the likes of UMass, Providence, UNH, and Northeastern,has been razor-thin for weeks now. A single loss for any of these programs could completely derail their hopes of making the National Tournament with an at-large bid.

They have no room for error and are all playing with the mindset that each game is not only a must-win but the most important of their season. Because, for the most part, this is true. Every contest is a matter of life and death for them.

This is not the case for the Black Bears, who have sat comfortably in the top ten of the Pairwise since mid-November and for weeks now have been tantalizingly close to a lock for the NCAA Tournament, according to numerous analytics and statistical percentage projections.

How do you get a team — who's already shattered everyone's expectations with the best start to a season for the program in over a decade — to rise to yet another level?

Well, being shut down and completely nullified on home ice could be the spark needed for the Black Bears to find another gear. After all, the wiggle room they've played with for the most part of 2024 has quickly shrunk.

Now it's Maine skating on as thin ice as they have experienced this season.

But before we keep looking ahead, we must look back at Saturday's loss and the past weekend as a whole to truly understand exactly where this team is at.

The return of Donovan Houle to the Maine lineup following his one-game suspension put the senior back on the second line with Harrison Scott and Thomas Freel. This forced Sully Scholle, who was dynamite on Friday alongside Scott and Freel, to be moved down to Ben Poisson and Cole Hanson's third-line, meaning Anthony Calafiore was slotted as the right-wing with Nolan Renwick and Parker Lindauer, who both played excellently on Friday. Unfortunately for Nicholas Niemo, who had perhaps his best game of the season and was a major factor in Maine's win, Houle's return forced the junior transfer from Bentley back to the stands, disappointed to be watching on as a healthy scratch once again.

The defensive pairings stayed the same, with the only change coming to the extra d-man slot, which saw Jack Dalton replace Ryan Hopkins. Meanwhile, behind them, Albin Boija was thrust back between the pipes after standing on his head all game long the night before.

Although Friday night saw the Black Bears dominate the Huskies on the scoreboard, Northeastern was plenty dangerous in attack. If it hadn't been for Boija miraculously coming up with a handful of game-saving saves, the result could have looked a lot different to Maine’s detriment.

Northeastern, skilled with the puck and dangerous in transition, broke through Maine's defense plenty of times on Friday, creating numerous breakaways or off-rush chances that Boija bailed out time and again. According to Head Coach Ben Barr, the keys to limiting the Northeastern rush chances that tore Maine to shreds was a matter of taking care of the puck and maintaining their defensive structure. Limiting these unforced puck errors would not only keep puck possession away from the super-skilled Huskies' sticks but also avoid catching the Black Bears out of position, giving Northeastern plenty of open ice to take advantage of.

The first period started the same way Friday's third ended. Chippy, scrappy, and with no animosity lost between the two sides.

Neither team gave the other any room to breathe. The opening minutes saw defensive gridlock with each side cautious of the other's attacking prowess, ultra-wary of not wanting to make the first mistake.

It was the Black Bears who blinked first. A turnover at the blueline allowed the Huskies to ruthlessly tear through center ice, showcasing their blistering north-south speed and forcing Boija to come up with a big stick save. But on the play, Maine, scampering back, was out of position from the turnover and forced to take a reaching penalty as Scott was sent to the sin bin for a hook.

The Northeastern power play, which was already three for eight against the Black Bears this season, caught the Maine PK flat-footed on. A series of cross-crease passes cut through the Black Bears rotating diamond-shaped penalty kill system, which couldn't close the passing lanes, allowing the piercing passes to cleanly pick apart Maine's structure. The series of penetrating passes pulled Maine's penalty killers out of position, eventually leading to one of the nation's most prolific scorers, Justin Hryckowian, to find himself all-alone with the puck in front of Boija, largely uncontested at the back post. Hryckowian, moving laterally across the crease, forced Boija to commit to the forehand shot before burying the backhand glove-side.

Maine was given their own power play opportunity a few minutes later when the spritely freshman Sully Scholle beat a Husky to a loose puck at center ice, holding off the defender while racing into Northeastern territory on the partial breakaway before he was hauled down, earning the power play for Maine.

Scholle was a bright spot for the Black Bears all weekend long. Whether he was alongside Freel and Scott or paired with Handon and Poisson, his rapid skating speed and, in particular, his explosive starts gave Maine a reliable outlet to break out through the Minnesotan. With the puck on his tape, the freshman's speed and impressive edge work enabled him to cut through the neutral zone and find holes in Northeastern's structure, bursting through to gain the zone with pace.

But the power play that Scholle earned for his team went stagnant. Similar to how the power play performed against UNH, while Maine possessed the puck well and cycled it cleanly, they were nonetheless held to the perimeter, unable to find open lanes and string together a series of cutting passes to get the puck to the net. Northeastern collapsed their penalty kill unit, happy to give Maine time and space with the puck on the outside, confident that their structure could choke the Black Bears' shooting lanes.

Whether it was on the power play or when the Black Bears possessed the puck at even strength, they could not cycle it with the same flow and dynamism as the night before. Friday night saw Maine find considerable success when moving their feet and driving towards the net, creating chaos amongst the ranks of defending Huskies who were forced out of their structure to defend the high-octane Black Bears.

But this direct style that saw Maine puck carriers lower their shoulder and drive to the net was missing on Saturday. Instead, the Black Bears looked hesitant and out of ideas, passing the puck around the outside of Northeastern's structure without much confidence. They relied on setting each other up for one-timers, hoping the shots could sneak through the maze of bodies in front of the net instead of playing directly and forcing Northeastern's defenders to make plays.

On top of this, the Black Bears could not establish themselves in front of the Northeastern net. This lack of net-front presence did not make life difficult enough for the Husky goaltender Cameron Whitehead, who could easily save all of the potshots thrown his way, allowing the young goaltender to grow in confidence after a rare rocky night on Friday.

The best of Maine's opportunities came when the Black Bears were able to hound Northeastern off the puck with their swarming forecheck. But unlike Friday night, successes on the forecheck were too few and far between as the Huskies could skillfully pass their way out from under the pressure that did not have the same grinding effect as the previous evening.

The Black Bears' first forechecker in on the play was frequently a defenseman. The Black Bears d-man, not wanting to risk a pass being picked off in the neutral zone, often took it upon themselves to carry the puck up-ice, gain the redline, and put the puck in deep. This was similar to Friday, but the main difference was that the Maine forwards' timing to jump into the zone and chase down the puck from the dump-ins seemed to be off-kilter, leaving the Black Bear blueliners to be the first forechecker on to the puck. Having your d-men be the first into the zone was obviously not ideal, as it reduced the forecheck's success to turning the puck over and completely negated the defensive structure that was pivotal for shutting down a speedy transition team like Northeastern.

Maine's aggressively pinching defenseman, who worked in tandem with the forwards' forecheck as the Black Bears' second line of defense, were also not clicking on Saturday night. When Maine is at their best, their front-footed forecheck and gung-ho pinching blueliners work hand-in-hand to condense the space for the opposition to breakout through, squeezing the open-ice and overwhelming their opponents. But whether because the d-men were out of position after being one of the first forecheckers in on the play or simply getting beat to the loose pucks on their aggressive pinches, Northeastern, time and again, beat the Black Bears to loose pucks at the half-boards, banking it off the wall, sending the Huskies off to the races up-ice with speed and numbers supporting.

This allowed the Huskies to dominate Maine in the neutral zone all night, speeding up ice with considerable success against the broken-structured Black Bears and creating lots of rush chances against Boija. Once in the zone, Northeastern played keep away with the puck as Maine simply could not get it off the Huskies. They were happy enough to shield the puck from the Black Bears against the boards, patiently working it around the zone before getting it unstuck from the boards and creating grade-a shots in the slot.

Offense was the best form of defense for the Huskies who possessed the puck for the majority of the game, never allowing Maine a sniff of momentum.

As it always does, puck possession all-stemmed from who could win more of the one-on-one loose puck battles. Friday night saw Maine scratch and claw their way to coming out on top with the puck from the majority of these battles. Saturday was a whole other story as Northeastern was overall quicker, fought harder, and therefore won a significant majority of the loose pucks.

Northeastern played with a desperation and energy Maine couldn't match.

Northeastern's Alex Campbell, who could not convert on at least three breakaway chances Friday night, was not going to be held scoreless for a second straight evening. With the Huskies patiently cycling the puck in Maine's zone, Campbell took the puck out of the corner and around the top of the face-off circle, beating two Black Bears in the process before slotting home a shot past Boija's glove to give the Huskies a 2-0 advantage on an impressive individual effort.

Five minutes later, one of the Black Bears' best scoring opportunities back-fired, leading to another Campbell goal. In the high slot, Sully Scholle tried to dance around a diving Husky, who broke up the play with his skates before Scholle could toe-drag around him. The puck ricocheted out to center ice, where Campbell was off to the races on yet another breakaway. While Friday night saw Boija stop all of Campbell's breakaways by not bitting on any of his fakes and dekes, on Saturday the Québec native made simple work of the breakaway, ripping the puck past Boija's blocker before the Swedish netminder could set himself.

The Huskies continued embarrassing the Black Bears, passing the puck around the zone with comfort and ease as Maine looked overmatched and lacking energy. Five minutes after Northeastern made it three, things went from bad to worse for Maine.

The Huskies cycled the puck around the Maine zone with relative ease. Northeastern, constantly moving with flow, once again passed their way to the Black Bear net, not looking like they even had to break a sweat. Billy Nocross motored in from the point, grabbing a pass from a teammate at the half-boards before taking the open lane to the net that was left completely open for him. The puck tipped off his stick but fell kindly to Brett Edwards, standing all alone at the back post. Edwards took the bouncing puck from the goalline, banging the tough angle shot into the back of the net, leaving Boija completely exposed and helpless.

4-0 Huskies.

As every Northeastern goal hit the back of the net, the Alfond grew increasingly deafly quiet. Already a less-than-capacity crowd that saw the Balcony three-quarters empty and plenty of open seats in the lower bowl as well, the Black Bears missed their sixth man, who, inexplicably, did not show up in full support Saturday night.

By the time Northeastern's fourth goal was slotted home, you could hear a pin drop. The only noise heard was the cheers from the Huskies bench and the murmuring of the Alfond's generator.

All these aspects contributed to the Black Bears being completely outplayed in the second period. Their worst period at the Alfond all season.

In a particularly frustrating play, Whitehead gathered the puck on his stick behind the net, with Scott bearing down on the Huskies goaltender. Not given a passing option from any of his defensemen, Whitehead shielded the puck from Scott with his backside, who, bearing down at full pelt, collided with the netminder. It was Whitehead who had actually stepped into Scott's way, initiating the contact before tumbling down to the ice. Scott gathered and put the loose puck into the net, with Whitehead still flailing on the ice. The referee adamantly waved off the goal for goaltender interference, sending an eruption of anger raining down on the ice as the Alfond Faithful let their frustrations be heard.

Equally upset at the bogus call was the Maine bench, slamming their sticks on the boards and screaming at the officials until they were red in the face. The Black Bears had a gripe with the referees all weekend long. Northeastern had repeatedly cheap-shotted Maine in the head after seemingly every whistle, but the officials never batted an eye and, for the most part, never penalized the Huskies. This anger, which had been building throughout the weekend, poured out, making its way onto the ice. From this moment on, the Black Bears, full of adrenaline, buzzed all over the Huskies for the first time all evening.

Everything Maine had lacked for the first two periods was noticeably apparent in the third. The Black Bears, with nothing to lose and a chip on their shoulder, hounded and harassed the Huskies, battering into every red sweater they could find, all the while playing with a blistering speed that was severely missing before. Now it was Maine out battling the Huskies to loose pucks, tenaciously fighting for every inch of ice, and dominating the run of play.

The Black Bears, pushing the envelope by forcing the puck down Northeastern's throat, drove to the net with dynamism and directness, throwing the kitchen sink at Whitehead.

But the freshman Husky goalie was up to whatever Maine could muster, saving everything thrown at him, standing his ground, not letting the Black Bears force the puck past him in the numerous mad scrambles in front of his net. Numerous times, the puck squirted inches wide of Whitehead's post at the Black Bears could not force the biscuit into the basket, no matter how urgently and tenaciously they whacked away at it.

It felt as though the Black Bears could have shot on Whitehead all night without lighting the lamp as the final horn sounded, with Maine dominating the shots on goal category thirty-nine to twenty-two but failing in the one stat that matters.

The Huskies simply out-executed the Black Bears. Their goaltender was better and they were more ruthless in front of the net.

Not only was this the first time Maine was shut out on home ice, but it was also the first time at the Alfond that an opposing team had completely dominated the game. It's another sobering loss coming off the back of a poor run of recent performances that has sounded alarm bells across Black Bear Nation.

So, what exactly is going on?

Is this team falling apart at the worst possible time of the year?

Or are they just running into hot opponents week after week, playing them at the worst possible time?

I think it's a mixture of both. I don't believe that Maine is regressing; I just think that their opponents, playing desperately for their lives, have been able to turn up the dial to another level for some time now. Meanwhile, the Black Bears haven't been forced into this position yet. They still have not had to play a 'must-win-game' this season, required to turn it up and elevate their game.

The Black Bears, young and inexperienced, are new to this situation. Northeastern, on the other hand, has been here and done that. They know how to turn it up just in time for the playoffs and peak at the right time.

Maine, while trying to push the envelope and raise their game to their highest possible ability, but are currently working out a lot of the kinks needed to do this. While other teams have been in playoff mode for a month now, Maine has plateaued, unable to get over the hump to elevate themselves to the top of their potential.

But losses like this can show Maine exactly what they need to do in order to shift themselves into a higher gear. Desperation will help move this process along. While the Black Bears are still comfortably in the driver's seat from a national perspective, in Hockey East they are in danger of losing their first-round playoff bye and home-ice advantage. If anything can ignite a team to start playing desperately and to their best ability, it's the pressure of feeling your rivals closing in on your coattails.

Pressure makes diamonds.

The Black Bears are already miles above where any of us expected them to be. We have nothing to lose.

We can all be better. The fans' support can be improved, and so can the on-ice product. I, for one, can be more vocal in my support. What can you do? It will take all of us.

Let's wait and see what Maine looks like when fighting for their lives before we truly judge their season.

Trust in Barr, trust the process, trust the team. It's a journey.

We're all in this together.