Cedrick Guindon and Colin Kessler scored power-play goals, and last-place Vermont ended the Hockey East regular season Saturday night with a 5-3 win over Maine in Burlington, Vermont.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Maine (18-13-3, 12-11-1 Hockey East), which held on to fifth place in the final league standings because sixth-place Boston University lost to UMass Lowell. That means the Black Bears will avoid the preliminary round and will play a quarterfinal at Boston College next weekend.
Vermont (13-20-1, 8-15-1) grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Thomas Sinclair and Guindon.
Maine twice cut its deficit to one goal in the second period, as Josh Nadeau and Miguel Marques sandwiched goals around Kessler’s power-play tally.
Then, after Max Strand restored Vermont’s two-goal lead in the third period, Owen Fowler made it 4-3 with 1:55 remaining after the Black Bears pulled goalie Mathis Rousseau (21 saves) for an extra attacker. But Kessler scored into an empty net with 19 seconds left to clinch the win.
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