ORONO - Bobby Butler scored the go-ahead goal with 2:21 left as No. 15 New Hampshire defeated Maine 5-4 Sunday at Alfond Arena.

After Matt Duffy gave Maine a 4-2 lead early in the third period, the Wildcats responded with three goals in the final seven minutes, including Butler's goal on a 5-on-3 power play.

Scott Darling made 26 saves for Maine, while Bobby Foster made 24 saves for New Hampshire.

Maine (10-7-2, 5-5-2 Hockey East) plays at No. 3 Boston University at 7 p.m. Saturday.

Three stars:
1. Bobby Butler, UNH
2. Greg Collins, UNH
3. Jeff Dimmen, Maine

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Tim Whitehead summed up the aftereffects of Sunday's loss in one statement.

"This one's gonna sting for a long time," the Maine men's hockey coach said.

Agreed. This one's gonna leave a mark. With a potential win over No. 15 New Hampshire on Sunday, the Black Bears had a chance to leapfrog in the Hockey East standings and possibly crack the national rankings.

Instead, the Black Bears were left to dwell on their inexperience after a 5-4 loss Sunday at Alfond Arena.

With only three seniors in Sunday's lineup (Matt Duffy, Jeff Marshall and Chris Hahn), the Black Bears were better suited to be called bear cubs. Maine took four of their 10 penalties in the third period, which allowed UNH to come back from a 4-2 deficit. The Black Bears also made some critical defensive errors in the final moments of the game, including lack of defensive coverage. A prime example was UNH's game-winning goal; Butler was untouched on the far side of the crease, and pushed the puck into a virtually empty net, behind Darling.

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The Black Bears appeared to tie the game at 1-1 in the second period when Tanner House picked up his own rebound from from off the glass behind UNH goalie Brian Foster, but his second shot hit the post to Foster's left. Maine hit the post three times in the loss.

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Gustav Nyquist was called for two penalties, including a second-period penalty for diving.

Here's some insight on "diving."

Diving is usually called when a player embellishes an infraction from an opposing player. (Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins has been accused of this.)

Nyquist had taken seven penalties for 14 minutes in Maine's first 18 games.

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UNH handled adversity well. The Wildcats played their first game in nearly four weeks, and won without forward James van Riemsdyk, Hockey East's leading scorer with 26 points, and defenseman Blake Kessel. Van Riemsdyk and Kessel are playing for Team USA in the World Junior Championships in Ottawa, and are expected to rejoin the Wildcats this week.

"We definitely came back after the break andtrained hard this past week," Butler said. "It showed. We came back with those three big goals in the third."

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