BOSTON – When a team scores four goals in a college hockey game and limits its opponent to 23 shots on goal, that’s usually the recipe for a victory.

But that wasn’t the case Saturday night as the Boston University Terriers scored two shorthanded goals and capitalized on mistakes and poor goaltending to complete a sweep of their three-game series against Maine 5-4 at Agganis Arena.

It was the first time BU has beaten Maine more than once during the regular season since a 1997-98 season sweep.

BU improved to 10-8-2 overall, 8-6-1 in Hockey East.

The Black Bears fell to 14-8 and 7-6, respectively, including a dismal 1-6 mark against teams ahead of them in the league standings.

Junior defenseman Sean Sullivan’s goal with 6:40 left in the second period, just 1:11 after Maine’s Greg Moore had erased BU’s third one-goal lead, gave the Terriers the lead for good. Bryan Ewing expanded the lead to 5-3 with 1:39 left in the period with a routine wrister that was misplayed by Maine freshman goalie Ben Bishop.

“Getting up by two going into the third period was a big help. We were able to focus on defense and really buckle down in our own zone,” said Sullivan.

The Terriers used an effective neutral-zone trap in the third to frustrate Maine.

Derek Damon’s 45-foot wrister beat BU goalie John Curry with 18 seconds left.

“It was frustrating,” said Maine junior left wing Brent Shepheard. “We felt like we had a better effort than we did [Friday] night [a 3-2 loss]. We worked hard. But you have to give BU credit. They capitalized on their chances. Even though we may have had more scoring chances, they put theirs in the net.”

Maine outshot BU 27-23 and had 28 high-percentage chances to BU’s 20. Maine attempted 57 shots to BU’s 42.

Ewing’s goal was the back-breaker.

He accepted a pass from Kenny Roche and raced down the right wing before firing a wrister from the outer edge of the right circle.

“Coach [Jack Parker] told us to shoot from anywhere. He [Bishop] was struggling,” said Ewing. “I just let her go. I saw room on the far side. I got lucky and it went in. He got a little piece of it.”

Bishop was pulled after the second period, having allowed five goals on just 14 shots.

BU’s Curry defended Bishop, saying, “I know he’s a good goalie. Our first three goals weren’t bad goals by any means. He let in three goals on the first 12 shots, but so did I. There were lower shot totals for both teams, but a lot of them were high-quality chances.”

Maine senior defenseman Steve Mullin agreed.

“Their goals weren’t Ben’s fault,” said Mullin. “We broke down in front of him.”

Maine’s Matt Lundin stopped all nine third-period shots.

Sullivan’s go-ahead goal was created by Brandon Yip, who finished off a rush by throwing the puck to the net front.

“He [Bishop] kicked the first one out. The puck was sitting there and I just threw my stick at it,” said Sullivan. “It hit the inside of his leg and just barely crossed the goal line.”

In the first period, Pete MacArthur tapped in a Dan Spang feed off a two-on-one while shorthanded following a Keenan Hopson turnover. Josh Soares answered on the same power play with a screened 30-foot wrist shot.

BU’s Chris Higgins converted a shorthanded breakaway off a Matt Duffy giveaway in the second before Chris Hahn’s wrister from the top of the circle tied it 1:25 later.

Maine has now allowed as many shorthanded goals as power-play goals (7).

BU’s Ewing fed an unattended Roche at the top of the crease for a power-play goal, but Moore answered on the power play by deflecting home Mike Lundin’s blue-line wrister for his seventh goal in seven games.

Maine was without leading scorer Michel Leveille (calf injury), top-scoring defenseman Bret Tyler (ankle), fourth-leading scorer Billy Ryan (shoulder), and freshman defenseman Bryan Plaszcz (shoulder).

TERRIERS 5, BLACK BEARS 4

Maine (14-8) 1 2 1 – 4

Boston Univ. (10-8-2) 1 4 0 – 5

First period – 1. BU, MacArthur 7 (Spang, Laliberte), 17:01 (sh); 2. Maine, Soares 8 (Damon), 18:15 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Duffy, interference, 6:26; BU, Curry, interference (served by Yip), 8:23; BU, Sanders, tripping, 14:23; BU, Ewing, contact to the head-high sticking, 16:48

Second period – 3. BU, Higgins 2 (unassisted), 7:49 (sh); 4. Maine, Hahn 2 (Hamilton), 9:14 (pp); 5. BU, Roche 6 (Ewing, MacArthur), 9:57 (pp); 6. Maine, Moore 15 (Lundin, Damon), 12:09 (pp); 7. BU, Sullivan 2 (Yip), 13:20; 8. BU, Ewing 5 (Roche, Gilroy), 18:21. Penalties: BU, Yip, tripping, 1:50; Maine, Duffy, interference, 5:02; BU, Morrow, interference, 7:40; Maine, Shepheard, diving, 9:50; BU, Sullivan, hitting from behind, 11:46; Maine, K. Hopson, contact to the head-roughing, 14:12; BU, Redlihs, contact to the head-roughing, 14:12; Maine, Damon, slashing, 19:45

Third period – 9. Maine, Damon 8 (Lundin), 19:42. Penalties: Maine, Damon, cross checking, 4:47; BU, Van der Gulik, tripping, 10:12

Shots on goal: Maine 8-9-10-27; BU 4-10-9-23

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (14 shots-9 saves), Lundin (0:00 of 3rd, 9-9); BU, Curry (27-23)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 3 of 7, BU 1 of 5

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 7-11-10-28; BU 3-9-8-20

Attendance: 5,145