CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – The Boston College Eagles put a crimp in the University of Maine’s NCAA Tournament aspirations thanks to a great individual effort by sophomore center Brian Boyle.

The 6-foot-7, 235-pound Boyle, a first-round draft pick of Los Angeles, scored his second goal of the game with 5:34 remaining to give the Eagles a 4-3 victory Friday night over the Black Bears.

Boyle dug out the puck behind the Maine net, fought off 5-11, 190-pound Maine defenseman Troy Barnes, and circled the net to the left of Maine goalie Jimmy Howard before sliding the puck inside the far post.

“Dan Bertram helped me out. He got the puck to me real quickly,” said Boyle. “I had a good step on their defenseman and I used the net as a pick. I just threw it toward the net. I didn’t expect it to go right in. I was hoping for a rebound.”

Boyle said he did try to put his shot to the far side “because [assistant] coach [Mike] Cavanaugh said we had to get Howard moving laterally.”

Barnes took responsibility for the goal.

“I had a chance to chip it by him [Boyle] in the corner but I didn’t get it by him,” said Barnes. “He has a long reach. I shouldn’t have let him get that opportunity. I put Jimmy in a tough situation.”

Howard said, “I thought I had everything covered. But he has such a long reach.”

BC improved to 21-6-6 overall, 14-3-6 in Hockey East. Maine fell to 18-11-6 and 13-6-4, respectively.

Maine, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, cannot finish any higher than third while BC pulled into a first-place tie with New Hampshire.

Maine freshman defenseman Travis Ramsey’s first career goal 7:34 into the third period had tied the game. It came 4:17 after Ryan Shannon had given BC its second one-goal lead.

Ramsey accepted a pass from Keenan Hopson at the right point, took a stride and fired a wrist shot through a screen into the upper far corner.

“That goal put us back on our heels. They had some good chances [after that],” said Shannon whose Eagles were outshot by Maine 12-5 in the final period.

But Boyle came through with his 10th goal since Christmas.

Shannon had scored by following up a Patrick Eaves rush and jamming the puck through Howard, who had stopped Eaves’ in-tight shot. Eaves had cut around Ramsey.

“I poked it with one hand,” said Shannon.

“Two elite players made two elite plays,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead referring to Eaves’ rush and Boyle’s game-winner.

He felt his team didn’t play as well as it could have and said the fact BC had five power-play chances to his team’s one verified his contention.

“We’ve got to work harder to draw more penalties,” said Whitehead.

The teams swapped first-period goals as Michel Leveille opened the scoring before Boyle answered on the power play, his ninth power-play goal among his 14 on the year.

Dave Spina gave BC the lead 7:21 into the second period but just 39 seconds after killing off a BC power play, Greg Moore drew the Bears level.

Leveille scored after BC goalie Matti Kaltiainen shot the puck into the corner onto the stick of Brent Shepheard. Shepheard took a quick shot that was kicked out by Kaltiainen onto Leveille’s stick. Leveille snapped it into the far corner.

Maine had several good chances to extend the lead but Hopson’s point shot on a power play hit the crossbar, Billy Ryan failed to score on a wraparound after a BC turnover behind the net as Kaltiainen stopped it with his right pad and a third opportunity went for naught when Derek Damon and Josh Soares collided in the low slot after another BC turnover.

Boyle tied it when Eaves’ point shot was blocked and squirted over to him in the left circle. He turned and roofed a 15-foot wrister over Howard’s blocker.

BC dominated the second period, outshooting Maine, 16-5, and Spina made it 2-1 when Mike Brennan’s wrister from the left circle trickled behind Howard. Spina tapped it over the line.

Moore tied it off a Shepheard rebound. Leveille centered the pass and Shepheard chipped it off Kaltiainen’s pads. Moore swooped on the loose puck and swept it in the short side.

EAGLES 4, BLACK BEARS 3

Maine (18-11-6) 1 1 1 – 3

Boston College (23-8-4) 1 1 2 – 4

First period – 1. Maine, Leveille 10 (Shepheard), 2:52; 2. BC, Boyle 13 (Eaves, Shannon), 12:34 (pp). Penalties: BC, Boyle, holding, 11:43; Maine, Jankus, holding, 10:42.

Second period – 3. BC, Spina 12 (Shannon, Brennan), 7:21; 4. Maine, Moore 13 (Shepheard, Leveille). Penalties: Maine, Shepheard, unsportsmanlike conduct, 8:20; Maine, Damon, boarding, 11:43; BC, Rooney, obstruction-interference, 13:11; Maine, Damon, Tyler, cross checking, 13:24.

Third period – 5. BC, Shannon 12 (Eaves, Spina) 3:17; 6. Maine, Ramsey 1 (Hopson) 7:34; 7. BC, Boyle 14 (Bertram) 14:26. Penalties: Maine, Bellamy, boarding, 15:48

Shots on goal: Maine 9-5-12-26; BC 8-16-5-29

Goaltenders: Maine, Howard (29 shots-25 saves); BC, Kaltiainen (26-23)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 1; BC 1 of 5

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 4-3-8-15; BC 5-9-6-20

Attendance: 7,884