ORONO – The puck was sitting by itself, 10 feet in front of an empty net after Boston University goalie John Curry had made a right-pad save on Rob Bellamy’s snap shot from the right circle and fallen out of position.

There were just 55 seconds remaining in regulation and the University of Maine Black Bears and the Boston University Terriers were locked in a 1-1 tie.

Maine junior center Jon Jankus did everything he could to capitalize but it wasn’t to be on this evening and the teams finished deadlocked.

“I dove [head-first], I tried to get any piece of my body on it. Somehow I missed it. There was a wide open cage but I didn’t bury it,” said a disappointed Jankus.

Josh Soares followed up the play “but the goalie got his glove on it [and covered it].”

It was the fifth time in the last six meetings that Maine and BU failed to score more than three goals between them.

It was a game of momentum swings but a pair of first-period goals by Boston University’s Chris Bourque and Maine’s Greg Moore were the only pucks to find the back of the net.

Maine is now 12-8-5 overall, 7-3-3 in Hockey East. BU is 13-9-1 and 9-3-1. The teams will play again Saturday night at 7.

“It was a good defensive game,” said BU junior left wing and Saco native John Laliberte. “Both teams think defense first.”

Laliberte had a chance to win it on a breakaway earlier in the third period but didn’t convert.

“There were two guys on my back so I couldn’t deke [fake] the goalie [Jimmy Howard]. I just tried to get the shot off but I missed [to Howard’s right],” said Laliberte.

BU dominated the overtime but Howard stopped all five shots he faced to help preserve the tie for Maine. BU outshot Maine 5-1 in overtime but the Bears finished with a 28-26 edge in shots.

Howard credited his defensemen for their performance throughout, saying, “They did a great job clearing the front of the net.”

Talented Boston University freshman left wing Bourque illustrated his importance by beating Howard with a one-timer on the power play 11:44 into the game. The son of NHL Hall-of-Fame defenseman Ray Bourque was playing his first game since injuring his knee in the World Junior Championships on Dec. 29.

Laliberte fed a pass along the ice to Bourque, who whistled a slapper into the far corner over Howard’s blocker.

“I never saw it. One of our defensemen cut in front of me,” said Howard.

Maine junior right wing Moore tied it with his third goal in three games 4:08 later.

Josh Soares was able to fight his way through a check by BU defenseman Jekabs Redlihs and find a wide open Moore driving to the far post.

“I was going to shoot at first but then I saw Greg out of the corner of my eye and I passed it under their defenseman’s stick,” said Soares.

Moore roofed the puck past the helpless Curry.

Scoring chances were few and far between in the first period as both teams backchecked tenaciously and did an effective job covering the front of their nets.

Both teams had glorious opportunities to grab the lead in the second period but BU’s Curry made three difficult saves in the first half of the period.

First he robbed Mike Hamilton with a short-side glove save. Moments later, Michel Leveille cut across the low slot unmolested only to have Curry move over with him and snare his eight-foot backhander.

“I saw the upper corner open but he made a good save,” said Leveille.

Curry’s third sharp save came on a Wes Clark slap shot from the top of the right circle as the recruited walk-on goalie flashed out his right pad to kick it out.

On BU’s two-man advantage later in the period, Howard was tested on a couple of occasions but Derek Damon, Mat Deschamps and Steve Mullin kept the shots to the outside and Howard caught a break when David Van der Gulik rang a one-timer off the short-side post.

“It wasn’t a typical Maine-BU game,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “Neither team was able to sustain a forecheck. Both goalies were good and the penalty killing was great on both sides.”

“It was an even game,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “Both teams had opportunities to win it. The goalies were very sharp. It was kind of a choppy game. There were a lot of whistles.”

BLACK BEARS 1, TERRIERS 1 (OT)

Boston Univ.(13-9-1) 1 0 0 0 – 1

Maine (12-8-5) 1 0 0 0 – 1

First period – 1. BU, Bourque 5 (Laliberte, McConnell), 11:44 (pp); 2. Maine, Moore 10 (Soares), 15:52. Penalties: Maine, Johnson, hitting from behind, 7:09; BU, MacArthur, tripping, 9:08; Maine, Leveille, cross checking, 11:16; BU, Redlihs, obstruction-interference, 18:36; Maine, Hamilton, cross checking, 18:45; BU, MacArthur, holding, 19:49; Maine, Zabkowicz, diving, 19:49

Second period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Zabkowicz, tripping, 6:19; BU, Morrow, holding, 12:20; Maine, Hamilton, hooking, 16:08; Maine, Jankus, slashing, 17:17.

Third period – No scoring. Penalties: Maine, Clark, elbowing, 7:41; BU, McGuirk, roughing, 14:18; Maine, Damon, roughing, 14:18; Miller, BU, interference, 16:06

Overtime – No scoring. Penalties: none

Shots on goal: BU 5-9-7-5-26; Maine 5-14-8-1-28

Goaltenders: BU, Curry (28 shots-27 saves); Maine, Howard (26-25)

Power-play opportunities: BU 1 of 7; Maine 0 of 2

High-percentage scoring chances: BU 4-5-4-3-16; Maine 3-8-6-0-17

Attendance: 5,614