LOWELL, Mass. – University of Maine senior defenseman Travis Wight had never scored a goal in 72 career games entering Friday night’s Hockey East game at UMass-Lowell.

Junior left wing Brent Shepheard had gone 15 games without one.

But Wight opened a five-goal first-period outburst with his first career goal and Shepheard scored the first of his two first-period goals 39 seconds later as the Black Bears cruised to a 9-2 victory over the River Hawks at Tsongas Arena.

Maine had scored just seven first-period goals through its first 10 games and the Bears were coming off a frustrating 2-1 loss to Boston University on Sunday in which BU goalie John Curry made 19 third-period saves to prevent them from tying it up.

Maine improved to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in Hockey East entering a Saturday night game at the University of New Hampshire.

UMass-Lowell fell to 3-6 and 2-4, respectively.

Michel Leveille, Josh Soares, Billy Ryan, Greg Moore, Bret Tyler and Rob Bellamy had the other Maine goals while freshman Mike Potacco scored his first collegiate goal for the River Hawks and Matt Walsh added a third-period score.

“The first two goals by Wight and Shepheard, a couple of guys who hadn’t scored in a while, gave us a big lift,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “That loosened us up, we started playing well and it snowballed from there.”

Maine outshot UMass-Lowell 46-17 and the nine goals were the most since a 9-6 win over Boston University on March 1, 2002.

Fourteen different Bears had at least one point with Tyler notching three assists to go with his goal; Ryan and Soares each adding a pair of assists to their goals and Keenan Hopson collecting three assists.

Maine, now 10-1 against UMass-Lowell at the Tsongas Arena, scored five goals in a period for the first time since the Bears collected six in the second period of an 8-2 win over Northeastern on Nov. 15, 2002.

Maine has won the last seven meetings with the River Hawks, including five last year.

“I really, really like this Maine team,” said UMass-Lowell coach Blaise MacDonald. “They have a lot of character kids. They play like robots regardless of the score. It’s not easy to stay focused when you’re that far ahead but they did.

“We didn’t match their intensity. They scored goals in our crease and we didn’t score any in theirs. They were stronger and more determined in the battle zones.”

Wight opened the scoring 7:23 into the game courtesy of a sustained forecheck.

Ryan left the pass for him along the boards and Wight skated around the net to the left of River Hawk goalie Peter Vetri and roofed a quick wrister past Vetri into the short side.

“Ironically, we had been working on those high rolls in practice [where the forward circles along the boards and leaves it for the defenseman],” said Wight. “Billy made the play. I came around the net and had some time. I figured if I shot high he’d glove it so I put it low, between his glove and his pads.”

Ryan said it was “great” to see Wight score his first goal.

Shepheard also scored off a wraparound as he came out around the net to Vetri’s right and slid the puck along the ice past the Hockey East Rookie of the Year.

“He may have thought I was going around the other side. He left his legs open and I backhanded it through the five-hole,” said Shepheard.

Leveille made it 3-0 on the power play, one of four power- play goals on the night for the Bears in eight opportunities.

He controlled the puck in the right circle, cut to the middle, and snapped a 25-foot wrister past Vetri’s glove into the short side.

“The guy who was supposed to front me was way to the left. I saw the open side. John Hopson was screening the goalie,” said Leveille.

Soares made it 4-0 on the power play as he finished off a beautiful passing sequence involving Derek Damon and Ryan. Soares had a simple tap-in off a Damon pass.

Potacco split the Bear defense to get one back as he fought his way to the front of the net and slipped the puck under Ben Bishop.

But Maine’s Shepheard answered 40 seconds later when he was left unattended in front of Vetri and Tyler found him with a diagonal pass from the right-wing boards.

“I put it to my backhand and went five-hole again,” said Shepheard.

Maine extended the lead to 8-1 in the second period at the expense of freshman Vinny Monaco, making his first college appearance.

Kennan Hopson fed Ryan on a two-on-one after faking a shot and Ryan tapped it past the helpless goalie; Moore polished off a passing series involving Jon Jankus and Damon and Tyler converted off a four-on-one.

“We moved the puck really well tonight,” said Leveille.

“It was a good team win,” said Shepheard.

Ryan said the loss to BU “lit a fire under us.”

BLACK BEARS 9, RIVER HAWKS 2

Maine (9-2) 5 3 1 – 9

UMass Lowell (3-6) 1 0 1 – 2

First period -1. Maine, Wight 1 (Ryan, K. Hopson), 7:23; 2. Maine, Shepheard 1 (Bellamy), 8:02; 3. Maine, Leveille 4 (Tyler, J. Hopson), 14:16 (pp); 4. Maine, Soares 6 (Damon, Ryan), 17:50 (pp); 5. UML, Potacco 1 (unassisted), 18:00; 6. Maine, Shepheard 2 (Tyler, K. Hopson), 18:40. Penalties: Maine, protocol minor, 0:00; UML, Godoy, holding, 13:44; UML, too many men ice, 16:56; Maine, Soares, unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:19; UML, Kinley, unsportsmanlike conduct, 19:19.

Second period – 7. Maine, Ryan 3 (K. Hopson, Soares), 1:41; 8. Maine, Moore 7 (Jankus, Damon), 9:48 (pp); 9. Maine, Tyler 1 (Johnson, Soares), 17:58. Penalties: Maine, Ramsey, obstruction interference, 3:13; Maine, J. Hopson, roughing, 7:45; UML, Robins, roughing, 7:45; UML, Kinley, holding, 8:45; UML, Collar, holding, 11:20; UML, Bria, high-sticking, 15:14; UML, Robins, charging, 19:55; Maine, Bellamy, hitting after whistle, 19:55.

Third Period – 10. UML, Walsh 2 (Collar) 6:06; 11. Maine, Bellamy 2 (Tyler, Mi. Lundin) 17:58 (pp); Penalties: UML, Potacco, obstruction interference, 7:33; UML, Bria, hooking, 9:29; Maine, J. Hopson, high-sticking, 11:09: Maine, Ramsey, obstruction interference, 11:39; Maine, Duffy, hitting after whistle, 15:54; UML, Collar, hitting after whistle, 15:54; UML, Bria, hitting from behind, 16:57

Shots on goal: UML 7-3-7-17; Maine 19-19-8-46

Goaltenders: Maine, Bishop (17 shots-15 saves); UML, Vetri (19-14); Monaco (0:00 of second, 27-23)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 4-8; UML 0-4

High-percentage scoring chances: Maine 15-17-11-43; UML 5-4-4-13

Attendance: 3,140