Fourth seeded Maine's come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win Sunday night at Alfond Arena brought a thrilling end to an exciting series with No. 5 seed UMass Lowell.
Junior captain Tanner House scored 5:10 into overtime to lift the Black Bears to their first Hockey East semifinal berth since 2006.
A scoreless first period didn't necessarily reflect the story of the first period, as the Black Bears took full advantage of their energetic home venue and were all over the River Hawks through the first 20 minutes. But Lowell goaltender Carter Hutton stood on his head to keep the Black Bears off the board. Lowell's defense also came up big, shutting down all four of Maine's power-play opportunities.
Lowell was finally able to refocus and generate some offense in the second. Six minutes in, Colin Wright was set up by Ryan Blair and Nick Schaus to give his team a 1-0 lead.
Taking penalties against Maine, though, is a risk you should be cautious of taking. The No. 1 power play in the nation was able to capitalize less than 10 minutes later when Will O'Neill tallied his seventh of the year on assists from Gustav Nyquist and Brian Flynn. Though Maine was only 1-of-8 in the series on its power play leading into Sunday's match, it has now scored at least one goal on the man advantage in 13 of its last 14 games.
As both teams hit the ice flying in the third, it was Lowell's turn to put its man advantage to the test. When Nyquist was called for tripping, Scott Campbell came up big for the River Hawks on assists from David Vallorani and Riley Wetmore to reclaim a 2-1 lead.
Just as Maine's time was winding down, O'Neill came up big again, burying his second of the game — from Matt Mangene and Nyquist — to tie things up and eventually send the game to overtime.
In the extra period, House's 16th goal of the season blew the roof off of Alfond Arena. Flynn recorded the assist on the play and goalie Dave Wilson finished the game with a sensational 36 saves.
The Black Bears will advance to the TD Garden next weekend, where they will face third-seeded Boston University in one semi. Vermont will face Boston College in the other matchup.
