LEWISTON – Matt Boehmer and his new linemates found the perfect time to start working well together.

Boehmer had two goals and an assist, Christian Dionne had a goal and a pair of assists and Andrew Riley stopped all 21 shots his stingy defense allowed to lead the Bangor Rams to a 4-0 shutout over Waterville in their Eastern Maine Class A hockey semifinal at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday.

“We’ve been practicing more as a line,” said Boehmer. “Before, we were more run and gun, just going around the defense, but now we’re passing more, setting more things up, and it’s paying off.”

Riley didn’t see much action after a back-and-forth opening period, but when he was called upon he came up big. The shutout was his second in as many playoff games, coming after a 1-0 quarterfinal win over Messalonskee of Oakland.

“Everyone comes out with a job to do,” Riley said. “The defense helped me out a bit with those tough bounces off the back boards.”

“Once it gets to a two- or three-goal lead, Riley in net will keep you in the game,” Bangor coach Ted Taylor said.

Boehmer, a senior captain, led a third-period charge that gave the Rams relief from a precarious two-goal lead.

“We know, we saw [Waterville] come back against Cony and score [three] goals in the last four minutes,” Boehmer said. “We know they can score goals in bunches, so we wanted to score as many as we could.”

Bangor advances to the Eastern A final and will face No. 4 Lewiston 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland.

Bangor scored the game’s first goal at 2:28 of the first. Dionne gathered a loose rebound in the low left slot and fired at the net. Waterville goaltender Nolan MacDonnell slid from his left to right and caught a piece of the puck, but only enough to slow it down as it wobbled in near the right post.

“Usually [Dionne] gets those,” Boehmer said. “I saw it just sitting there.”

“That’s the kind of goals we score,” Taylor said. “We don’t have what you’d call a sniper on this team, but we dig and dig and get goals by working hard in front of the net.”

Waterville appeared to find its legs midway through the opening period, just about when the Panthers went on their first power play.

Bangor’s Joel Whitney saved a sure goal after a Chris Smith shot handcuffed Riley. The puck bounced into the crease at the right post, and Whitney smacked it into the corner ahead of a streaking Josh Kelley.

“It popped right into the air,” Whitney said. “It dropped like an inch in front of the net, so I just tried to poke-check it and get a body on the player.”

The teams skated evenly in the second, with Waterville losing some steam early as Bangor went on three consecutive power plays. The Rams went 0-for-4 with the extra skater in the period.

But Bangor did add an insurance goal at 13:14 of the middle period when a shot from the left point by Ted Murray glanced off Nick George’s skate and past MacDonnell, who was looking for the puck to go well wide.

RAMS 4, PANTHERS 0

Bangor (14-7-1) 1 1 2 – 4

Waterville (16-6) 0 0 0 – 0

First period – 1. Ban, Dionne (George, Boehmer) 2:28.

Second period – 2. Ban, George (Murray, Hyatt) 13:14.

Third period – 3. Ban, Boehmer (Dionne) 2:42; 4. Ban, Boehmer (Dionne) 7:00.

Shots on goal: Bangor 8-7-17-32; Waterville 9-5-7-21

Power-play opportunities: Bangor 0 of 10; Waterville 0 of 5

Goaltenders: Bangor, Riley (21 shots-21 saves); Waterville, MacDonnell (32-28).