ORONO – Former University of Maine Hobey Baker Award winner Scott Pellerin became the first Black Bear hockey player to have his number (8) retired prior to Saturday night’s Maine vs. UMass-Lowell game at the Alfond Arena.

So it was only appropriate that the undefeated Bears had to rely on a solid, two-way performance and clutch third-period goals, traits for which Pellerin was known, to upend the Chiefs 4-2.

Maine extended its regular-season unbeaten streak to 42 games (38-0-4); its Alfond skein to 45 games (41-0-4) and its unbeaten string against Hockey East opponents to 31 (28-0-3). Maine is now 28-0-2 overall this year, 15-0-1 in HE. UMass-Lowell fell to 15-13, 7-10.

Maine outshot the Chiefs 37-19 (24-9 in Grade-As) but UML goalie Dwayne Roloson was outstanding and kept his hardworking Chiefs close.

“They’re a good young team. They played us tough,” said University of Maine senior center and captain Jim Montgomery, who had two goals and an assist. “To our credit, we showed we could grind it out. We worked hard and we never stopped coming at them.”

Montgomery and linemates Paul Kariya and Cal Ingraham gave the Bears some needed breathing room early in the third period when they scored twice on the same shift, 23 seconds apart, to pull out to a 4-1 lead.

“We knew we had to pick things up and we were able to put together a big-time shift,” said Kariya, whose goal and assist gave him the school record for points by a freshman (67 on 18 goals and 49 assists), breaking Mario Thyer’s 1987-88 mark of 66.

Kariya also set the consecutive-game, point-scoring mark (24). The previous mark of 23 had been co-owned by Guy Perron (1988-89) and Montgomery (1990).

Kariya’s game-winning goal came at the 3:01 mark of the third period. Montgomery intercepted a clear-out pass by Scott Meehan at the right point and rifled a pass to the far post, where Kariya deflected it into the top, short-side corner.

“Jim and I have a feeling between us for which type of pass we want,” explained Kariya. “Sometimes, we’ll give each other a soft saucer pass so the other can shoot off it. Other times, we’ll make a bullet pass (for a deflection). Jim rifled that pass so all I had to do was get my stick on it.”

Twenty-three seconds later, Montgomery, Kariya and Ingraham buzzed the Chiefs net and Roloson made a great right pad save on Montgomery’s short backhander.

“Then Cal fired a shot off the crossbar, I got the rebound and I had the whole open net,” said Montgomery.

Shane Henry’s power-play wrist shot from the midpoint through Maine goalie Garth Snow’s legs made it 4-2 with 9:46 left.

But Montgomery and defensemen Chris Imes and Dan Murphy turned in superb performances later in the game when the Chiefs had a two-man advantage for 1:13. The Chiefs had received an extra 19 seconds on the two-man advantage when the clock malfunctioned.

Red-hot Mike Latendresse gave Maine a 1-0 lead in the first period by flipping his own rebound over Roloson while Maine was shorthanded. Montgomery made it 2-0 in the second period with a 20-foot wrist shot into the top, short-side corner off a UML defenseman’s stick.

Mike Murray made it 2-1 at the 14:05 mark when he intercepted a Jason Weinrich pass and snapped a quick 12-footer past Snow.

Black Bears 4, Chiefs 2

Maine 1 1 2 – 4 UMass-Lowell 0 1 1 – 2

First Period – 1. Maine, Latendresse 14 (Imes), 19:40. Penalties – UML, Barozzino, interference, 4:31; UML, Mahoney, interference, 8:43; Maine, Silverman, slashing, 12:57; Maine, Murphy, holding, 19:05.

Second Period – 2. Maine, Montgomery 14 (Ingraham), 3:12; 3. UML, Murray 17 (unassisted), 14:05. Penalties – Maine, Weinrich, high sticking, 4:35; Maine, C. Ferraro, roughing, 12:28; UML, Sbrocca, roughing, 13:44; UML, Roloson (served by Concannon), late hit, 16:25.

Third Period – 4. Maine, Kariya 18 (Montgomery), 3:01; 5. Maine, Montgomery 15 (Kariya, Ingraham), 3:24; 6. UML, Henry 20 (Hebert), 10:14. Penalties – Maine, Weinrich, interference, 8:35; Maine, P. Ferraro, interference, 12:47; Maine, bench minor for too many men on the ice (served by Tomberlin), 13:53; UML, Bazin, tripping, 16:55.

Shots on goal – Maine 8-14-15 – 37; UML 5-6-8 – 19

Goaltenders – Maine, Garth Snow; UML, Dwayne Roloson