ORONO - Dan Lawson's power-play goal less than four minutes into the third period helped Vermont to a 3-2 win Friday over Maine.

Maine led 2-1 midway through the second period on Matt Duffy's power-play goal, but Vermont tied the game less than three minutes later, and Lawson gave the Catamounts a 3-2 lead early in the third.

Scott Darling made 23 saves for Maine, while Rob Madore made 30 for Vermont, including a critical save on Tanner House with eight seconds left in the game.

Robby Dee also scored for Maine. The Black Bears (12-17-4, 7-14-3 Hockey East) and Vermont (18-8-5, 13-7-4) conclude the season series at 7 p.m. Saturday at Alfond Arena.

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Maine Coach Tim Whitehead believed the faceoff factor was a critical point in the game. Vermont won 34 of the 59 faceoffs in the game, Dean Strong going 11 for 17 and Jonathan Higgins 10 for 12.

Tanner House led Maine, winning 11 of 18 faceoffs.

"For the most part we played pretty smart," Whitehead said. "But I thought they killed us on faceoffs."

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Maine was penalized six times, including two against Keif Orsini. Vermont, which entered the game with an anemic power play (26 for 150, .173 percentage), finished 2 for 5 on the man-advantage.

"For us to score two power-play goals … finally," Vermont Coach Kevin Sneddon said. "That was a monkey off our backs. We were really struggling. We just rolled all our lines."

Another one for the numbers - six of Vermont's past 11 games have been decided by a goal.

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Merrimack, in 10th place in Hockey East, was officially eliminated from playoff contention Friday after a 4-3 loss at New Hampshire. While the Warriors have 11 points, six behind Maine, with three games remaining, Maine took the season series from Merrimack (2-0-1). Ninth-place Providence lost 5-1 at Boston College, and is four points behind Maine with three games remaining. Maine also took the season series from Providence (2-0-1).

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