ORONO – The play of the University of Maine’s freshman line of Keenan Hopson between Billy Ryan and Rob Bellamy has been a pleasant surprise since it was put together three weeks ago.

And they delivered in a critical situation Friday night.

Bellamy’s first goal in 11 games, coming with 3:13 remaining and set up by his linemates, supplied the Bears with the clinching goal in a 2-0 triumph over the University of Massachusetts Lowell at Alfond Arena.

Junior goalie Jimmy Howard made 27 saves in posting his sixth shutout of the season and 15th of his career. UMass Lowell junior John Yaros was equally superb and was the busier of the two goalies, finishing with 32 stops.

Sophomore left wing Brent Shepheard staked the Bears to a 1-0 lead with 27 seconds left in the first period.

Maine extended its unbeaten streak at home to 10 games (7-0-3) and improved to 17-10-6 overall, 12-5-4 in Hockey East. UMass Lowell fell to 19-8-4 and 10-8-3.

Maine needs only a tie in Saturday’s rematch to sew up a home-ice berth for the Hockey East quarterfinals.

“This was a big win,” said Maine senior right wing and co-captain John Ronan. “We had a great defensive effort but we didn’t let up offensively. And we were disciplined.”

“Maine played great. They were very inspired, very fast and very gritty,” said UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald. “In a game like this, you know Maine is going to get 15 or 16 quality chances and you’ve got to hold them to two or three goals. And you know you’re only going to get seven quality chances and you’ve got to get four goals.”

“Their forecheck was relentless,” said UMass Lowell freshman defenseman Grant Farrell.

Bellamy’s goal came about when a faceoff to the left of Yaros wound up on the stick of Ryan, who passed it across to Hopson in the high slot for a one-timer that was kicked out by Yaros.

But Bellamy was at the doorstep to the left of Yaros.

“I pulled it to my right, he dove across and I put it in [between his glove and short side post]. He got a piece of his glove on it,” said Bellamy of his 10-footer.

“That was my biggest thrill of the season so far,” added Bellamy.

“It was a great goal,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Billy and Keenan showed great poise and Rob got to the front of the net like he has all year.”

Bellamy, Hopson and Ryan all agreed that the line is getting better each game as they get to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.

And Bellamy said there is a nice mix as “Billy has great hands, Keenan has great vision and I just try to take the body and provide energy.”

The freshman line generated seven shots on goal.

Shepheard extended his goal-scoring streak to three games thanks to a dazzling play by Michel Leveille.

Steve Mullin kept the puck in at the left point and slipped it ahead to Leveille, who maneuvered cleverly around a River Hawk defenseman before making a precise backhand pass across the slot to Shepheard, who simply had to sweep the puck into an open net.

Leveille said the coaching staff has stressed the need for the Bears to drive to the front of the net “so I expected Brent or Greg Moore to be there.”

Maine outshot UMass Lowell 14-2 in the first period but Yaros was razor sharp as he made several gems, including a pad stop on Keith Johnson’s breakaway.

He made another superb stop on Johnson’s one-timer off a Derek Damon feed in the opening minute of the second period.

UMass Lowell began establishing some sustained pressure midway through the period and Howard had to be sharp to keep the River Hawks off the board.

Howard squeezed his pads to thwart a point-blank attempt by Andrew Martin, who scooted from right to left across the top of the crease.

A few minutes later, Cleve Kinley fed a diagonal pass from the right point to a wide open Elias Godoy at the bottom of the left circle.

“Earlier in the year, I would have slid across on my knees. But coach [Grant] Standbrook has been working with me on staying up and getting big. His shot hit me in the shoulder,” said Howard, who felt his teammates did a “tremendous job” in front of him all night.

Howard made a key stop in the third period off Danny O’Brien, who came out of the corner unmolested to Howard’s right.

O’Brien had Godoy at the far post but tried to wrist one to the short side and Howard stopped it.

It was just the second time all year the River Hawks have been held to fewer than two goals, with the other time being a scoreless tie with Brown.

“Both goalies were fabulous,” said Whitehead.

Maine’s penalty killing units, which entered the game with the second-best percentage in the country (87.9 percent), killed off three power plays. UMass Lowell had the nation’s third-best power play percentage (24.2 percent).

BLACK BEARS 2, RIVER HAWKS 0

UMass Lowell (19-8-4) 0 0 0 – 0

Maine (17-10-4) 1 0 1 – 2

First period – 1. Maine, Shepheard 10 (Leveille, Mi. Lundin), 19:33. Penalties: UML, Brandvold, obstruction-holding, :46; Maine, Ramsey, cross checking, 8:49; UML, Pandolfo, hitting after the whistle, 8:49; UML, Collar, interference, 11:37; UML, Walsh, obstruction roughing, 17:30

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Ramsey, roughing, 8:52; UML, Martin, hooking, 15:41; Maine, Shepheard, elbowing, 19:40

Third period – 2. Bellamy 2 (Hopson, Ryan), 16:47. Penalties: Maine, Deschamps, hitting from behind, 2:40; UML, Collar, contact to the head-roughing, 5:22

Shots on goal: UML 2-13-12-27; Maine 14-8-12-34

Goaltenders: UML, Yaros (34 shots-32 saves); Maine, Howard (27-27)

Power-play opportunities: UML 0 of 3; Maine 0 of 5

High-percentage scoring chances: UML 3-9-5-17; Maine 9-7-7-23

Attendance: 5,641