FINAL SCORE: Maine 4, Vermont 1
BURLINGTON, Vt. –  Despite 11 man-advantage opportunities, the Vermont Catamounts only found the back of the net on one power play as the Maine Black Bears won 4-1 on Saturday afternoon.
 
UVM falls to 5-12-3 and 3-8-2 in Hockey East play while Maine improves to 12-6-3 and 6-3-2 in conference play.
 
RELATED LINKS
Box Score
CatamounTV Highlights
 
"After a very solid first period we didn't sustain that play and take advantage of our opportunities, especially on the power play," Head Coach Jim Plumer said. "The break comes at a good time for us as we look to regroup and get off to a fresh start after New Year's."
 
Maine opened the scoring with just over a minute remaining in the first period. Sydney Scobee turned away a shot from Brooke Stacey, but the Catamounts could not clear the rebound before Catherine Tufts fired the puck into the back of the net.  
 
Kourtney Menches and Tereza Vanišová picked up matching penalties when play resumed following the goal, and the teams played the remainder of the opening period at 4-on-4. Vermont and Maine both had eight shots on goal in the period, with neither team scoring on their respective man-advantage opportunities.
 
Vermont tied the game 1:25 into the middle period after a penalty called against Lydia Murray at the end of the first gave Vermont 45 seconds of 4-on-3 play followed by over a minute of 5-on-4 play. Taylor Willard fired a shot from the blue line that found its way through traffic and past Carly Jackson for the equalizer. Ève-Audrey Picard and Amanda Drobot picked up assists on the power play tally.
 
After over 15 minutes of back and forth action, the Black Bears netted a pair of goals to take a 3-1 lead with 2:42 remaining. Stacey scored her ninth of the season at 16:21 of the frame and assisted on Daria Tereshkina's third of the season 17:18 into the period.
 
Maine added another goal 2:59 into the third on the power play. Murray received a pass from Tufts on the far post and buried the puck over Scobee's left pad. Alyson Matteau also picked up an assist on the goal.
 
The Black Bears killed three penalties in the first half of the final period, with Vermont unable to score on quality scoring chances. With just under six minutes remaining Maine was called for another penalty, and the Catamounts pulled Scobee for the long two-man advantage. Mackenzie MacNeil's hooking penalty with 4:08 remaining forced Scobee back to her crease.
 
Maine held on to win by a 4-1 margin and held a 31-29 advantage in shots. A total of 19 penalties were called between both teams in the contest.
 
Vermont does not play again until facing Ryerson University to open Concordia's Theresa Humes Tournament on Friday, Dec. 29 in Montreal. The Black Bears resume play on Saturday, Jan. 6 with a trip to Boston University.
 
The Windjammer and Upper Deck Pub is the presenting sponsor of the 2017-18 women's hockey season