ORONO – University of Maine freshman goalie Ben Bishop knew he had to play better than he did in his last outing, a 5-4 loss at Boston University nine days ago in which he gave up five goals on only 14 shots.

He certainly did play better Saturday night, making 24 saves including a potential win-preserving gem off Providence College freshman defenseman Cody Wild with 6:20 remaining, to backstop the Bears to a badly needed 5-2 triumph.

Maine snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 15-9 overall, 8-7 in Hockey East play. PC fell to 13-9-1 and 10-5-1.

The Bears built a 4-0 lead on Derek Damon’s first-period power-play goal and second-period goals by Josh Soares (power play), Travis Ramsey and Keenan Hopson.

Innovative first-year Providence College coach Tim Army pulled his goalie in favor of an extra attacker on three different occasions, including once in the second period, to try to rally his club and the Friars capitalized twice as Jon Rheault (power play) and Tony Zancanaro (four-on-four) scored 2:58 apart to make it 4-2 with 7:01 remaining.

Forty-one seconds later, Bishop kicked out a Friar shot only to see the rebound deflect across to the far side to Wild in the left circle. Wild, who had scored his fifth goal in Friday night’s 4-0 win over Maine, appeared to have half a net to shoot at but the desperate 6-foot-7 goalie scrambled over and made the save.

“I was just trying to get whatever I could over there and I made a blocker save,” said Bishop.

Wild said, “He’s a huge goalie and he takes up a lot of room. The puck was bouncing but I got good wood on it. He made a great save.”

Army pulled his goalie a fourth time with 1:28 left and senior right wing and captain Greg Moore iced it with an empty-net goal 26 seconds later.

“After the last game, I really wanted to come out and try to win one for our team,” said Bishop, who finished with 10 Grade-A (high-percentage) saves among his 24. “The fans were great. They kept us in it.”

Providence senior left wing and leading scorer Torry Gajda, who assisted on both goals, said Bishop played a hell of a game.

“He was on top of the puck all night, he controlled his rebounds and his angles were sharp. He’s a very good goalie,” said Gajda.

Maine coach Tim Whitehead said he was looking for Bishop to “elevate his game and give us an extra lift and he did it at the key moment. That’s what a great goalie does. He was excellent.”

Damon capitalized on one of Maine’s six first-period power plays when a falling Soares pushed it out to him from behind the net.

“The goalie [Tyler Sims] thought Josh was going around the other side of the net and was leaning over so I threw it off the back of his shoulder and it went in,” said Damon.

Soares started the second-period flurry by sweeping home a Moore rebound.

Sophomore defenseman Travis Ramsey’s first Alfond Arena goal came on a one-timer from the top of the right circle into the short-side (glove) corner off a pass from behind the net by Keith Johnson.

“Keith fed me a perfect saucer pass over a guy’s stick and I closed my eyes and shot it,” grinned Ramsey.

Forty-eight seconds later, Hopson flipped home a loose puck during a wild scramble to snap his 13-game, goal-scoring drought.

“We played a lot harder from start to finish tonight than we did last night,” Whitehead said. “The guys were more focused on executing the game plan and that was very refreshing to see. Our backs were against the wall, we needed the win and we got the job done.”

Friars junior center and captain Zancanaro said, “We lost our discipline. If we had our discipline, it would have been different game. You can’t give up 10 power plays to any team in Hockey East.”

Maine went 2-for-10 on the power play and PC went 1-7.

PC outshot Maine 26-23.

Moore had two assists to go with his goal.

BLACK BEARS 5, FRIARS 2

Providence (13-9-1) 0 0 2 – 2

Maine (15-9) 1 3 1 – 5

First period – 1. Maine, Damon 9 (Soares, Moore), 11:48 (pp). Penalties: Maine, Moore, hitting from behind, 4:04; Maine, Damon, cross-checking, 7:44; PC, Gajda, obstruction inteference, 8:22; PC, Wild, hooking, 8:41; PC, Taormina, hitting after whistle, 10:40; PC, Sims, roughing (served by Meyers), 12:34; PC, Stimoulis, obstruction high-sticking, 13:56; PC, Carroll, contact to head roughing, 18:47.

Second period – 2. Maine, Soares 9 (Damon, Moore), 4:07 (pp); 3. Maine, Ramsey 1 (Clark, Johnson), 12:08; 4. Maine, K. Hopson 4 (Bellamy, Ryan), 12:56. Penalties: Maine, Moore, roughing, 1:08; PC, Taormina, holding, 2:20; PC, Wild, boarding, 2:52; PC, Stimoulis, roughing, 4:20; Maine, Bellamy, hitting after whistle, 12:56; Maine, Ryan, hitting after whistle, 12:56; PC, Stimoulis, hitting after whistle, 12:56; Maine, Ryan charging, 16:02; Maine, Wight, hitting after whistle, 16:02; PC, Mazzolini, hitting after whistle, 16:02.

Third period – 5. PC, Rheault 9 (Zancanaro, Gajda), 10:01 (pp) 6. PC, Zancanaro 8 (Gajda, Wild), 12:59; 7. Maine, Moore 16 (Wight), 18:58 (en). Penalties: PC, Norton, tripping, 3:02; Maine, Moore, obstruction interference, 3:25; Maine, Marshall, contact to head roughing, 5:17; PC, Gajda, contact to head roughing, 5:17; Maine, Danis-Pepin, roughing, 8:02; PC, Norton, roughing, 11:44; Maine, Jankus, unsportsmanlike conduct, 11:44.

Shots on goal: PC 8-6-12-26; Maine 8-10-5-23

Goaltenders: PC, Sims (18 shots-14 saves), Ritter (0:00 of 3rd, 4-4); Maine, Bishop (26-24)

Power-play opportunities: PC 1-7; Maine 2-10

High-percentage scoring chances: PC 2-5-12-19; Maine 10-8-4-22

Attendance: 5,609