ORONO — A night after scoring seven goals, the University of Maine was held in check by Vermont, and the Catamounts earned a split of the weekend Hockey East series with a 2-1 win Saturday night at Alfond Arena.

Maine took 20 of its 44 shots on net in the third period, and both Vermont goalies came up big to frustrate the Black Bears. Axel Mangbo made 35 saves before a lingering groin injury became enough of a problem for him to leave the game in the third period. Aiden Wright, who started Friday’s 7-0 loss before being pulled in the second period, made eight saves to clinch the win.

“It’s just a complete lack of maturity on our team. We can come out and be obviously really good in a game, and we can come out and just, you know. Nothing positive to say about it right now,” Maine coach Ben Barr said.

It was the second series in a row in which the Black Bears (7-4-1, 4-2 Hockey East) followed up a strong game with a lackluster effort. Last week, Maine won 6-2 at UMass on Thursday before falling 4-0 on Friday.

Brandon Holt, one of Maine’s captains, said Saturday’s loss came down to effort, and his team’s lack of it.

“We beat that team 7-0 (Friday) night, and they came out, like I said, they outworked us from the start. They wanted it more than we did and it showed,” Holt said. “To lose like that, on home ice, it’s not something that I’ve been a part of very often and it’s, obviously, it embarrassing.”

The Catamounts (4-6, 2-4) took the lead for good 1:29 into the third period when Daniel Sambuco snapped a wrist shot from the left circle over the glove of Maine goalie Albin Boija. The goal followed a Maine turnover.

The lowest scoring team in NCAA Division I, Vermont took a 1-0 lead on Max Strand’s power-play goal at 9:02 of the first period.

Maine tied the game at 14:43 of the second when Will Gerrior scored his second goal of the season. Moments after a Vermont power play ended, Gerrior took a feed from Lucas Peterson, broke in between a pair of defenders and slipped the puck past the outstretched left pad of Mangbo.

With Boija on the bench for an extra attacker over the final two minutes, Maine buzzed the Vermont net. A number of chances went wide, and Wright made big saves when he needed to.

“We scored seven goals last night, and every one of them had some sort of rebound or screen, every one of them. Tonight, we couldn’t do that,” Barr said.

Boija made 26 saves.