ORONO – The University of Maine Black Bears had their problems generating offense against the hard-working University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks.

But the Bears received third-period goals 12 seconds apart from Ben Guite and Chris Heisten to subdue the gritty River Hawks 3-1 in Hockey East action Friday night.

Maine is now 8-0-2 overall, 3-0-2 in Hockey East. UMass-Lowell fell to 2-7-1 and 1-4-1.

The Bears extended their unbeaten streak to 14 games (12-0-2).

Guite’s goal with 9:56 remaining was created by a Robert Ek shot from the left point that skipped to the net and resulted in a scramble.

“I saw the puck bounce out, and I just tried to hit it as hard as I could,” said Guite, who dove headfirst across the low slot before swiping it into the open short side.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Ed Boudreau flipped the puck toward Magnus Lundback, who burst down the left wing.

“Their defenseman missed the puck and I went around him and took a wrist shot,” said Lundback.

Sophomore goalie Cam McCormick got his stick on the shot, but Heisten fought his way to the net for the rebound.

“I put my stick between one of their players’ legs and was able to spin off him [and get to the puck]. I put the shot five-hole,” said Heisten, whose goal snapped a six-game goal drought.

He called the rebound a “Christmas present.”

The Lundback-Heisten-Boudreau line was playing only its second shift of the third period.

“We had gone to three lines, but, after [Guite] scored, I knew they were fresh, so I put them out there,” said Maine coach Shawn Walsh.

Magnus Lundback said it was a good move by his coach.

UMass-Lowell coach Tim Whitehead said in order to beat Maine, his team had to avoid giving the Bears second and third shots.

“We did a good job in the first two periods, but we gave them those opportunities in the third period,” said Whitehead. “We’re having trouble scoring goals, so we have to win 2-1. We can’t win a 4-3 game against Maine. They’re too good.”

Sophomore defenseman Chris Gustafson’s second career goal had staked the River Hawks to a 1-0 lead 5:38 into the first period.

But junior left wing Dan Kerluke snapped out of a four-game goal-scoring drought with a power-play goal at the 12:13 mark of the second period to equalize.

Gustafson’s goal was set up by Craig Brown, who outmuscled a Bear in the right corner and shoveled a short pass to him.

Gustafson snapped off a quick wrist shot that sailed over the glove of Maine goalie Matt Yeats.

The Bears took two consecutive penalties and the combination of the goal and the penalties gave the River Hawks the momentum for the rest of the period until the Bears received a two-man advantage over the final 1:29 of the period.

Maine played better in the second period and then took control of the game in the third period, outshooting UML 17-4 over the final 20 minutes.

“They’re a good team. They didn’t give us much space. But then we started working harder and we played their game. We got the puck low, took the body, and that enabled our talent to take over,” said Guite.

Kerluke knotted it up with one second left on a power play.

A.J. Begg broke down the right wing and fired a shot wide. It came out the other side to Kerluke.

Kerluke made a quick move, drove to the net, and, using a River Hawk defenseman as a screen, roofed a 20-foot snap shot into the short side corner past McCormick’s blocker.

Shortly afterward, Maine took three penalties in a span of 3:07, but was able to kill them off.

“That was the turning point,” said Walsh.

“We tried to stay in a tight triangle [in the 5-on-3s] to force them to shoot from the outside or make a bad pass,” said Maine senior center Cory Larose.

Yeats finished with 20 saves while McCormick had 31 stops.

Black Bears 3, River Hawks 1

UMass-Lowell (2-7-1) 1 0 0 – 1 Maine (8-0-2) 0 1 2 – 3

First period – 1. UML, Gustafson 1 (Brown, Campbell), 5:38. Penalties: Maine, Ek, holding, 6:47; Maine, Leger, interference, 10:15; UML, Brown, interference, 18:31; UML, Kotyluk, roughing, 19:17

Second period – 2. Maine, Kerluke 5 (A. Lundback), 12:13 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Leger, roughing, 5:54; UML, Reed, charging, 6:33; UML, Rooney, charging, 10:14; Maine, A. Lundback, holding, 12:43; Maine, Janik, holding, 14:06; Maine, Begg, interference, 15:50; UML, McGrane, interference, 18:09

Third period – 3. Maine, Guite 4 (Kerluke, Ek), 10:04; 4. Maine, C. Heisten 3 (M. Lundback, Boudreau), 10:16; Penalties: UML, Rooney, charging, 3:10; Maine, B. Heisten, charging, 3:10; UML, Allison, cross-checking, 11:53; UML, Campbell, slashing, 18:31; Maine, B. Walsh, unsportsmanlike conduct, 20:00

Shots on goal: UML 12-5-4-21; Maine 10-7-17-34

Goalies: UML, Cam McCormick (34 shots-31 saves); Maine, Matt Yeats (21-20)

High-percentage scoring chances: UML 7-6-2-15, Maine 5-3-9-17

Power-play Opportunities: UML 0 of 6, Maine 1 of 7

Attendance: 5,341