ORONO — In the most literal sense, Brandon Holt gave the University of Maine men’s hockey team a 5-4 overtime win over Boston University with his goal 43 seconds into the extra session. Holt ended up going backwards through the visitor’s door to the ice, which opened when he banged against it to begin celebrating with his teammates.

“I’m not much of a celly guy, so I was just going to jump into the glass. Then all of a sudden I’m staring at the ceiling,” said Holt, who guessed it was the first overtime game-winning goal of his life.

Really, the Black Bears (4-2-1 overall) won this one in a 42-second stretch late in the third period.

With the scored tied 4-4, Frank Djurasevic took a penalty for slashing at 16:42 of the third. Max Scott was already in the box for the Black Bears, so BU (3-4-1) had a 5-on-3 advantage.

The Terriers are a team that pounces on mistakes, small and large. Giving them a 5-on-3 power play in the closing minutes of a tie game is often handing them the keys to a victory.

Instead, the Black Bears dug in with the pesky hockey they’d played throughout the game. They clogged shooting lanes. They took away backdoor passes.

“There’s not much you can do on a 5-on-3. You’ve just got to make it hard on them,” said Holt, a team captain and Maine’s best defenseman. “If they make a play, they make a play, but you don’t want to give it to them for free.”

Maine coach Ben Barr said throughout the game he saw the consistent effort he’s been looking for throughout the first six games.

“Guys worked. It was top to bottom, everyone worked. We didn’t make the right decisions all of the time,” Barr said. “We took some untimely penalties at the end, obviously, but we never stopped working, so it was a good sign. It was a step in the right direction.”

Maine’s only lead came in overtime when Holt scored on a pass from Justin Poirier. The Black Bears trailed by a goal four times, and each time rallied to tie it. Poirier scored a pair of goals, giving him a team-high seven this season.

“Everyone played their own game, and when we put that together, I think we can be a special team. It was a great comeback tonight, great effort,” Poirier said.

In recent years, this rivalry has been tilted in BU’s favor. The Terriers were 7-2-1 against the Black Bears over the last 10 games entering Friday. Including goalie Mikhail Yegorov, 18 of the 20 Terriers who played Friday night have been drafted by an NHL team. Maine, on the other hand, skated five NHL draft picks.

“I think a game like that, it would have been a really easy game to tuck your tail and lose by a goal,” Holt said. “It’s great for the room, but we have to see if we can come back and do it (Saturday).”

The Black Bears have been looking for gritty play that results in a win. Friday night, they found it.