ORONO – There was absolutely nothing normal about the University of Maine’s 8-4 Hockey East victory over Northeastern University at Alfond Arena Friday night.

An ammonia leak under one goal post forced several stoppages and the rancid stench had the respective goalies going for short skates during the timeouts while the ammonia was cleaned off the ice.

The teams actually swapped ends midway through the third period.

“It was a real strange game. The stink was brutal,” said University of Maine junior left winger Lucas Lawson whose goal 1:31 into the third period gave Maine its first two-goal lead of the game after four one-goal leads.

Gray Shaneberger’s empty-netter with 1:13 left iced it and Niko Dimitrakos capped the scoring 18 seconds later.

Maine is now 4-4-2 overall, 2-1 in Hockey East, while NU fell to 3-6-2 and 2-4-1. Maine hosts Quinnipiac Sunday at 4.

Michael Schutte scored a pair of goals for the Bears, including the tying goal 1:15 after NU had taken its only lead of the game in the second period.

Robert Liscak’s goal 23 seconds later gave Maine the lead for good.

Schutte and Paul Lynch sandwiched first-period goals around one by NU’s Chris Lynch.

NU’s Joe Mastronardi tied it on the power play in the wild six-goal second period before Jon Jankus re-established the one-goal lead for Maine 1:16 later.

Jason Herriman’s power-play goal and Eric Ortlip’s score at the 14:34 mark gave the Huskies their first and only lead of the game before Schutte equalized and Liscak broke the tie.

Lawson’s important goal was set up by linemates Tommy Reimann and Niko Dimitrakos.

“Niko got it to Tommy on the half boards and I cut to the net,” said Lawson. “Tommy got it to me. Their goalie [Jason Braun] came out at me, I put it to my backhand and went five-hole with it. It trickled through.”

Northeastern had some sustained pressure to try to get back into the game but Maine senior goalie Matt Yeats, who entered the game with a dismal .835 save percentage, stopped all 12 shots he faced to give him 29 for the game.

“It was one of those games. We had our opportunities. But Yeats played great,” said Northeastern coach Bruce Crowder. “He made some huge saves in the first period. We have to get better goaltending.”

Yeats said, “I just went out and relaxed. I felt good the whole game.”

Maine also did a better job defensively than it had in the first two periods.

“We tightened things up in the third period,” said Lawson.

Schutte’s tying goal came about when he drove to the front of the net and Peter Metcalf swept the puck to the top of the crease from the point.

“It deflected off one of their sticks and hit me in the chest. The puck dropped down and I tapped it in,” said Schutte.

Liscak broke the tie when he poked a loose puck past NU defenseman and captain Jim Fahey near the left-wing boards in the neutral zone.

“I got around Fahey because I had my momentum going that way,” said Liscak, who broke in alone on Braun.

“I saw him push his goal stick out and go down. I knew it was going to be tough to go around him. So I stopped and put it in the short side,” said Liscak.

Schutte had opened the scoring when he deposited a backhander off a deflected Paul Lynch point shot into a half-empty net behind starting goalie Mike Gilhooly.

NU’s Chris Lynch tied it by shoveling home a Fahey wraparound rebound.

Freshman defenseman Lynch scored his first college goal when his 40-footer hit Gilhooly in the chest, rolled up over his shoulder and dropped into the net.

Gilhooly was pulled in favor of Braun for the second period.

Mastronardi tied it up on the power play as he redirected a Fahey pass between Yeats’ pads.

Jankus’ first college goal came 1:06 later as he beat Braun with a slap shot from the top of the right circle.

Herriman equalized on a power-play breakaway off a Mastronardi pass.

Ortlip made it 4-3 by sliding home a Tim Judy point shot that popped out of Yeats’ glove during a collision.

NU outshot Maine 33-32.

BLACK BEARS 8, HUSKIES 4

Northeastern (3-6-2) 1 3 0 ? 4

Maine (4-4-1) 2 3 3 ? 8

First period ? 1. Maine, Schutte 2 (P. Lynch, Kariya), 4:15; 2. NU, C. Lynch 4 (Mastronardi, Fahey), 11:21; 3. Maine, P. Lynch 1 (Kariya, Shields), 15:22. Penalties: Maine, Loya, hooking, 7:55; NU, M. Ryan, slashing, 8:15; Maine, P. Lynch, interference, 12:14; Maine, Heisten, tripping, 16:59.

Second period ? 4. NU, Mastronardi 2 (Herriman, Fahey), 4:10 (pp); 5. Maine, Jankus 1 (unassisted), 5:16; 6. NU, Herriman 1 (Mastronardi), 9:15; 7. NU, Ortlip 3 (Dudgeon, Judy), 14:34 (pp); 8. Maine, Schutte 3 (Shields, Metcalf), 15:49; 9. Maine, Liscak 5 (unassisted), 16:12. Penalties: NU, Hayward, interference, :36; Maine, Nault, holding, 2:34; Maine, Metcalf, interference, 5:27; Maine, P. Lynch, tripping, 8:46; NU, Nathe, holding, 10:13; NU, Engbrecht, slashing, 11:09.

Third period ? 10. Maine, Lawson 3 (Dimitrakos, Reimann) 1:31; 11. Maine, Shaneberger 1 (Metcalf) 18:47 (en); 12. Dimitrakos 4 (Kariya, Schutte) 19:05; Penalties: Maine, Metcalf, interference 10:03; NU, Reschay, interference, 10:03; Maine, Ryan, tripping, 12:54; NU, Lynch, roughing, 13:40; Maine, Metcalf, roughing, 13:40; Maine, Loya, slashing, 14:45

Shots on goal: Northeastern 13-8-12?33, Maine 10-7-15?32

Goaltenders: Northeastern, Gilhooly (10 shots, 8 saves), Braun (21-16); Maine, Yeats (33-29)

Power-play opportunities: Northeastern 2 for 8, Maine 0-4

High-percentage scoring opportunities: Northeastern 7-6-1?14, Maine 4-5-4?13

Attendance: 5,106