BOSTON – University of Maine hockey coach Tim Whitehead and his staff decided to change the personnel on all four lines in practice this week in order to prevent them from becoming stale.

It worked beyond their wildest dreams.

The Black Bears, who had scored a total of eight goals in their five previous games at Matthews Arena, erupted for eight in the first two periods and 15 players notched at least a goal or an assist as the Bears triumphed 8-2 for their fourth straight men’s hockey win.

Maine is now 7-1-1 overall and 2-0 in Hockey East. Northeastern fell to 2-6-2 and 1-4-1, respectively. Maine will visit Boston University on Saturday night.

The Bears had gone 0-3-2 in their last five games at Matthews Arena.

“It had to happen one of these years,” said junior left winger Todd Jackson, who had a goal. “Changing the lines refreshed everyone,” said senior center Marty Kariya, who had a pair of assists.

To call the second period wild would be a gross understatement.

There were seven goals scored in a span of 5:08 including five by the Bears.

Maine had taken a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Colin Shields and Cameron Lyall. Junior left winger Lyall’s goal was the first of his career and came in his 20th career game.

Lucas Lawson, Greg Moore and Todd Jackson expanded the lead to 5-0 with goals 2:06 apart in the second period before Eric Ortlip ended freshman goalie Jimmy Howard’s school record-setting scoreless streak at 193 minutes and 45 seconds. Ortlip’s power-play goal came at the 6:22 mark.

Howard came on at the outset of the second period to replace Frank Doyle, who pulled a calf muscle.

Derek Damon answered 11 seconds after Ortlip’s goal but Ryan Dudgeon scored 11 seconds later for Northeastern.

Maine’s Robert Liscak scored a shorthanded goal 1:12 later and Howard stopped a penalty shot by Northeastern sniper Mike Ryan to preserve the five-goal lead. Lawson added a shorthander later in the period.

“That was one of the strangest game’s I’ve seen,” said Lawson. “We stuck to the game plan. We scored a lot of goals by getting the puck, chipping it out of the zone, getting it deep and working it low. All the lines clicked.”

“Maine never let up. Every time we’d score, they’d come right back and score,” said Northeastern sophomore defenseman Tim Judy. “We all had the worst games of our careers.”

Maine senior left wing and captain Chris Heisten said, “We had some unlikely heroes tonight. I thought Cameron Lyall’s goal was the turning point.”

Shields opened the scoring and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games when he one-timed a Francis Nault rebound off the back boards behind NU goalie Keni Gibson from a difficult angle to Gibson’s right.

Lyall scored 8:27 later with a slap shot off a Travis Wight pass.

“Everyone was on the other side of the ice,” said Lyall, who gathered it in on the left wing. “I thought I saw something to shoot at.”

Lyall’s slapper sailed blocker side inside the near post.

Howard made some key saves early in the second period to keep the score 2-0 and then the Bears erupted.

Whitehead said those saves were a subtle key to the win “because if they had made it 2-1, it would have given them momentum and it might have been a totally different game.”

Lawson began the flurry with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Gibson to the far corner. Kariya set him up.

“Chris Heisten did a good job going to the net and creating a two-on-one for us,” said Lawson.

Lisbon’s Moore scored a scintilating goal by lugging the puck the length of the ice, bulling his way past a defenseman and roofing a wrister to the short side.

NU coach Bruce Crowder called a timeout and replaced Gibson with Mike Gilhooly but Jackson scored on the first shot Gilhooly faced after another Moore rush.

Moore lost the puck in the middle of the slot and Jackson pounced on it and released a quick wrister that went between the goalie’s pads.

Ortlip got one back by flipping home a Judy rebound but Damon skated on to a Lyall chip pass, pulled the puck through a defenseman and shot back over the goalie’s glove.

Dudgeon answered by directing a thigh-high centering pass from Jared Mudryk behind Howard but Liscak picked up a loose puck, cut across the slot and shoveled a backhander into the far corner.

That chased Gilhooly in favor of Tim Heneroty and Lawson capped the scoring by tapping in a Kariya rebound.

Whitehead praised the line of Damon between Lyall and Gray Shaneberger, saying the line’s quality performance “took the pressure off the other lines.”

Maine outshot Northeastern 39-33.

BLACK BEARS 8, HUSKIES 2

Maine (7-1-1) 2 6 0 ? 8

Northeastern (2-6-2) 0 2 0 ? 2

First period ? 1. Maine, Shields 9 (Nault, Murphy), 9:07; 2. Maine, Lyall 1 (Wight, Loya). Penalties: Maine, P. Ryan, interference, 11:24; NU, Reschny, boarding, 14:03.

Second period ? 3. Maine, Lawson 3 (Kariya, Barnes), 2:48; 4. Maine, Moore 2 (Ryan), 4:29; 5. Maine, Jackson 3 (Moore, Reimann), 4:54; 6. NU, Ortlip 4 (Guerriero, Judy), 6:22 (pp); 7. Maine, Damon 2 (Lyall, Barnes), 6:37; 8. NU, Dudgeon (Mudryk, Reschny), 6:44; 9. Maine, Liscak 3 (unassisted), 7:56; 10. Maine, Lawson 4 (Kariya, Loya), 13:05. Penalties: Maine, Murphy, cross checking, 3:32; Maine, P. Ryan, hooking, 5;48; Maine, Liscak, hooking, 11:49; NU, Grover, cross checking, 16:29; NU, Dudgeon, roughing, 19:16; Maine, Damon, charging, 19:16.

Third period ? no scoring. Penalties: Maine, Ryan, holding, 7:02; NU, Morris, hooking, 11:41; Maine, team, too many men on the ice, 12:23

Shots on goal: Maine 11-19-9?39; NU 10-12-11?33

Goaltenders: Maine, Doyle (10 shots-10 saves), Howard (23-20); NU Gilhooly (4-1), Gibson (15-11), Heneroty (20-19)

Power-play opportunities: Maine 0 of 4, NU 1 of 6

High-percentage scoring opportunities: Maine 14-17-12?43; NU 9-13-9?31

Attendance: 3,027