ORONO – The University of Maine stayed alive in its quest to pass UMass for the eighth and final Hockey East Tournament spot Friday night.

The Black Bears spotted UMass Lowell the game-opening goal before rallying for a 4-1 victory at Alfond Arena.

After Kory Falite started the scoring for the River Hawks 6:36 into the game, Bret Tyler equalized on the power play with just 52 seconds remaining in the period, ending his 11-game goalless famine.

Maine’s Jeff Marshall snapped a six-game pointless drought by breaking the tie at the 15:42 mark of the second period and Tyler added an important insurance goal with 6:59 left in the third.

Rob Bellamy iced it with an empty-net goal 25 seconds from the final whistle.

Maine’s fourth win in its last five games improved its record to 12-18-3 overall, 8-15-3 in Hockey East.

The River Hawks, who dominated large stretches of the game with their speed, fell to 15-14-4 and 10-12-4 in Hockey East.

Maine extended its unbeaten streak at Alfond Arena against the River Hawks to 14 (13-0-1) dating back to 2001.

Maine stayed two points behind UMass, which beat Merrimack 5-2.

The Black Bears host Lowell for a Seniors Night game tonight at 7 and UMass visits Merrimack. Maine has to beat the River Hawks and Merrimack has to upend UMass for Maine to earn the eighth spot and a date with league champion New Hampshire for a best-of-three series next weekend.

The Bears have had their share of games where the puck hasn’t bounced their way but they were the recipients of some puck luck Friday.

“Their [first] three goals were like lacrosse goals. They were crazy goals. Maine was fortunate tonight,” said UMass Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald, who felt his team turned in an impressive performance but didn’t convert its chances.

“That the way the game goes sometimes,” said UML sophomore goalie Carter Hutton, who was victimized by some weird bounces and finished with 20 saves including 10 Grade-A’s .

Maine coach Tim Whitehead agreed with MacDonald.

“The score wasn’t reflective of the game,” said Whitehead who credited junior goalie Ben Bishop with keeping his team in the game especially in the first period when he felt his team was nervous due to the do-or-die situation.

Bishop wound up with 25 saves, including six Grade-A stops.

“I was pleased that we gutted it out but we’ve got to play better tonight,” said Whitehead.

Marshall’s game-winning goal came off a rebound of a Simon Danis-Pepin shot from the right point.

Danis-Pepin had just come off the bench and was able to skate onto a loose puck and flip it toward the net.

Hutton made a pad save on the awkward bouncer but the rebound squirted across the top of the crease and Marshall converted while skating from left to right across the low slot.

“I got it on my backhand and put it to the far corner. Hutton made the first save but he wasn’t able to recover,” said Marshall.

Bishop, who had a .944 save percentage over his last six gams, made some important saves in the third period as the River Hawks pressed for the equalizer.

Tyler scored following a face-off to Hutton’s right as he flipped the puck toward the net twice and had the second one go in off River Hawk defenseman Maury Edwards.

Chris Hahn had taken a shot that hit Keenan Hopson before it deflected over to Tyler.

“Hutton got the first shot but it came right back to me and I put it back across and it hit their defenseman’s shin pads and went in,” said Tyler.

Hutton said it hit Edwards’ shin pads and his stick as he tried to clear it out of danger.

“Tyler does a great job getting the puck to the net,” said Hutton.

“It was a lucky goal but I’ll take it,” grinned Tyler.

Falite opened the scoring with his team-high 16th goal as Jeremy Dehner took a pass from Paul Worthington, closed from the midpoint and fired a wrist shot through a maze of players that Bishop kicked out to his left.

But the unattended Falite swept the puck into the empty net past the helpless Bishop.

Tyler tied it when his right shot from the point deflected off a pair of River Hawks and bounded into the net.

“It went in off [UML defenseman]’ Kelly Sullivan’s hand,” said Hutton.

“That goal was huge,” said Marshall referring to the momentum swing.

The River Hawks had a lot of chances, including some flurries in which the puck was free in front of the Bear net.

“We’ve got to jam some of those home,” said UML sophomore center and captain Ben Holmstrom, whose shot hit the post in the second period.

“We had some breakdowns in the defensive zone but we didn’t let it bother us and we came up with some big goals,” said Bishop.

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

990-8231

BLACK BEARS 4, RIVER HAWKS 1

UMass Lowell (15-14-4) 1 0 0 – 1

Maine (12-18-3) 1 1 2 – 4

First period – 1. UML, Falite 16 (Worthington, Dehner), 6:36; 2. Maine, Tyler 7 (Bellamy, Danis-Pepin), 19:08 (pp). Penalties: UML, Monroe, obstruction, tripping, 18:00.

Second period – 3. Maine, Marshall 5 (Danis-Pepin), 15:42. Penalties: Maine, Tyler, contact to the head-high sticking, 2:34; Maine, Ramsey, contact to the head-roughing, 8:23; Maine, Marshall, holding the stick, 17:39; UML, Schaus, contact to the head-elbowing, 19:13.

Third period – 4. Maine, Tyler 8 (Hopson, Hahn), 13:01; 5. Maine, Bellamy 5 (Sweetland, Clark), 19:35 (en). Penalties: Maine, Orsini, roughing, 3:23; UML, Monroe, charging, 19:59.

Shots on goal: UMass Lowell 8-10-8-26; Maine 8-8-8-24

Goaltenders: UMass Lowell, Hutton (23 shots-20 saves); Maine, Bishop (26-25)

Power-play opportunities: UMass Lowell 0 of 4; Maine 1 of 3

High-percentage scoring chances: UMass Lowell 4-6-5-15; Maine 6-6-6-18

Attendance: 4,896