CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Boston College goaltender Thatcher Demko was wearing a mask and blockers Friday, not a cape and tights.

Maine Coach Red Gendron was quick to draw that distinction after his punchless hockey team ran into the hottest goalie in the nation, with predictable results – a 3-0 BC victory before an announced crowd of 4,880 at the Conte Forum.

It was the third time Maine has been blanked this season. It was Demko’s fifth shutout in six games.

But it wasn’t as futile as it appeared, Gendron said, with his team set to face the Eagles here again at 1 p.m. Sunday.

“Thatcher Demko is very good, but I wouldn’t say that he’s Superman,” Gendron said. “So you need to take his eyes away. You need to get pucks to the net and create rebound-type opportunities, and you’ve just got to crash in there and make a mess of it.

“We did that at times. It wasn’t that we didn’t do that. But we didn’t do it successfully, and so we need more.”

Maine fell to 0-5-3 after losing its Hockey East opener. The Black Bears have scored only 10 goals in those eight games. They were 0 for 6 on power plays Friday to fall to 2-of-32 this season. Maine put 30 shots on goal, but 14 of them came from defensemen. And that doesn’t count the two that Dan Renouf ringed off the post.

“We had scoring chances, but we didn’t finish off the plays,” Gendron said. “So that’s hockey. That’s on us.”

No. 3 Boston College (7-1, 2-0 Hockey East) opened the scoring at 4:51 of the first period when defenseman Steve Santini fired a wrist shot from the right circle that went over Maine goaltender Rob McGovern’s shoulder, off the crossbar and into the net.

Neither team scored in the second period, but there were plenty of fireworks with 1:47 remaining. Maine forward Daniel Perez drew the ire of Boston College’s Ian McCoshen and Zach Sanford, and soon eight skaters were in a scrum along the boards. Even Demko came over and wrestled with a Black Bear player. In all, 11 penalties were assessed, with two players on each team – McCoshen and Sanford, Perez and Maine defenseman Mark Hamilton – getting 10-minute misconducts. There were 27 penalties called in the game.

In the third period, Eagles center Colin White was awarded a penalty shot after he beat Maine’s Bill Norman to a loose puck and Norman was called for hooking him. White lost the handle on the puck on his way in on the penalty shot and could only muster a weak attempt that McGovern blocked.

However, at 14:40 of the period, White redeemed himself, skating in from the right and whistling the puck between McGovern’s legs for a 2-0 lead.

Alex Tuch scored an empty-net goal at 18:47 to seal the outcome.

Gendron juggled his forward lines a bit, inserting Norman at center alongside Brian Morgan and Brady Campbell.

It was just Norman’s second appearance of the season. Gendron said he would contemplate more changes for Sunday’s rematch.

“We managed the puck pretty well and advanced it pretty well for a lot of the game. So, yeah, I see progress,” Gendron said.

“But for us, it’s critical-moment offense. At the critical moment, we have to shoot when we should shoot and shoot it quickly.”