ORONO – University of Maine Coach Shawn Walsh knew Providence College’s Friars were coming off a layoff, so he was hoping his Black Bears could capitalize on it.

The Bears did just that, erupting for five goals in the first period en route to a 6-4 Hockey East win at the Alfond Arena here Wednesday night.

The five-goal first period was Maine’s largest single-period outburst of the season.

Maine is now 15-5-1 overall and 4-3 in Hockey East. Providence fell to 11-4-1 and 3-4-1.

“In the first period, we were game sharp and jumped on them,” said Walsh. “The layoff hurt them.”

“The layoff hurt us a little bit,” agreed Friar Coach Mike McShane, whose team hadn’t played since it beat Miami of Ohio 8-1 on Dec. 22. “We skated well, but we didn’t play strong enough. We weren’t covering guys in the defensive zone and we gave up some bad goals.”

Left wingers Scott Pellerin (NEWS first star) and Martin Mercier each had a pair of first-period goals for the Bears and Kent Salfi had the other. Bruce Ridolfi had a first-period goal for the Friars.

Mark Doshan and Dean Capuano sandwiched second-period goals for PC around one by Maine’s Steve Widmeyer, and Mike Boback concluded the scoring with eight seconds left in the third period.

After Mercier opened the scoring with a wrap-around goal, which snapped his 11-game goal-scoring drought, Ridolfi tied it by poking a loose puck behind Maine goalie Garth Snow after Snow had stopped Lyle Wildgoose’s breakaway.

Salfi then put the Bears ahead to stay by triggering a spurt of four goals in a span of 8:20.

Following a faceoff, Pellerin tracked down the puck near the left point and threw the puck toward the front of the net.

“The shot got there quickly and I just pulled it with my stick and it went in the short side,” said Salfi, who was sent home from the U.S. Junior National team after pulling his groin.

Pellerin then scored off a faceoff play engineered by Martin Robitaille.

“Roby went through their guy’s legs with the puck and flipped it toward the net,” said Pellerin. “I tipped it out of the air and it went in. The goalie (Brad Mullahy) had gone down.”

Pellerin scored a power-play goal at the 17:11 mark when he deflected Lee Saunders’ centering pass into the short side.

“I tried to deflect it in the opposite direction the goalie is moving,” said Pellerin.

Mercier scored 15 seconds later. “Steve Tepper’s backhander hit the post and laid there and I pokechecked it in before the goalie could get to it,” said Mercier.

Doshan tipped home a Wildgoose pass off a two-on-one in the second period, but Widmeyer knocked home the rebound of a Patrice Tardif shot to re-establish the four-goal lead.

“I poked it through his legs,” said Widmeyer.

“That was a big goal because it took away their momentum,” said Walsh.

Widmeyer’s goal and the two by Mercier gave Maine’s third and fourth lines their highest goal output since the 10-1 win over Denver on Nov. 2.

Capuano’s drive from the point beat Snow to the glove side, but Snow came up with some key saves the rest of the way and the Bears killed off four penalties to nail down their sixth straight win over Providence.

“This was a huge win,” said Walsh. “We were without four regulars and this was our third game in six days. We were tired.”

Maine outshot Providence 19-8 in the first period but the Friars held a 25-14 edge the rest of the way.

Snow (29 saves) was chosen the second star while Mercier and PC’s Wildgoose (3 assists) shared third star honors. Mullahy finished with 27 stops.

Maine 5 1 0 – 6 Providence 1 2 1 – 4

First Period – 1. Maine, Mercier 2 (Lacouture, Tepper), 4:41; 2. Providence, Ridolfi 4 (Rooney, Wildgoose), 6:38; 3. Maine, Salfi 1 (Pellerin, Carney), 9:06; 4. Maine, Pellerin 13 (Robitaille), 11:31; 5. Maine, Pellerin 14 (Saunders, Olson), 17:11; 6. Maine, Mercier 3 (Straub, Tepper),17:26; Penalties – Providence, Boback, high-sticking, 16:28; Maine, Downey, slashing, 18:29

Second Period – 7. Providence, Doschan 1 (Wildgoose, Gaudreau), :59; 8. Maine, Widmeyer 3 (Tardif), 11:58; 9. Providence, Capuano 3 (Wildgoose), 13:38; Penalties – Maine, Salfi, slashing, 8:28

Third Period – 10. Providence, Boback 3 (unassisted), 19:52; Penalties – Providence, Madigan, holding, 2:01; Maine, Pellerin, interference, 4:33; Maine, Montgomery, roughing, 6:24; Providence, Concannon, interference, 11:03; Providence, Wildgoose, late hit, 13:17; Maine, Pellerin, late hit, 13:17; Maine, Widmeyer, interference, 13:45; Maine, Tepper, tripping, 17:37

Goalies: Maine, Garth Snow; Providence, Mullahy

Shots on goal: Maine 19-11-3-33; Providence 8-15-10-33

Attendance: 4,125