Maine coach Red Gendron wasn’t wrong when he said Boston University phenom Jack Eichel didn’t run wild against his team in five-on-five play Friday night at Agganis Arena.

But the freshman, expected to be one of the top two picks in next June’s National Hockey League draft, was the difference-maker with a power-play goal at 2:40 of overtime to lift the third-ranked Terriers (7-1-1, 5-1-1) to a 3-2 victory in front of 5,291 and a sweep of the season series.

It was the second time in eight days that BU beat the Black Bears (3-8-1, 2-4-0). The first time, on Nov. 14 at Alfond Arena, Eichel had an empty-net goal and a shorthanded assist in a 3-1 win.


“It’s my humble opinion that Jack Eichel, if he were old enough, would be playing in the National Hockey League right now,” said Gendron. “There were times in Orono and there were times tonight when he’s pretty tough to stop. That’s why people are talking about him being potentially the very first pick in the draft or maybe the second.

“He’s a special player. We didn’t do a poor job on that kid. It’s not like he had 5 five-on-five points in two games. That’s no disrespect to Jack, we worked hard and did a decent job on the kid.”

Maine had a 2-0 lead in the game but gave it up as all three BU goals came in the third period and OT.

After junior defenseman Ben Hutton scored at 7:33 of the opening period with a shot that beat junior goalie Matt O’Connor (26 saves), senior left wing Connor Leen made it a 2-0 lead at the 56-second mark of the second when he took advantage of a Terriers’ turnover for a shorthanded tally.

BU’s top line of Eichel, junior left wing Ahti Oksanen, and junior right wing Danny O’Regan (who combined for 17 of BU’s 36 shots) started the comeback at 4:50 of the third. O’Regan dished a pass to Eichel, who relayed a backhander into the slot for Oksanen to finish off the play.


At 9:03, the Terriers pulled even on junior center Matt Lane’s second score of the year. Sophomore right wing Nick Roberto found Lane on the doorstep and freshman goaltender Sean Romeo (33 saves) didn’t have a chance.

The turning point of the game came just 16 seconds into overtime when Leen was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for a hit from behind on BU junior defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.

That opened the door for Eichel’s skills. He took the puck in his own zone and skated up the left side. He barreled through the neutral zone and then into the offensive zone, where he beat Romeo on a shot from the left circle that decided the game.

It was Eichel’s seventh goal of the season and 17th point of his rookie campaign. He has scored at least a point in each of the first nine contests this year, making him the first BU player since Frantisek Skladany in 2001-02 to score a point in the first nine outings of the season.

BU coach David Quinn was pleased with the outcome but would like his team not to have to dig itself out of a hole.

“I thought we had a great third period,” said Quinn. “We got the initial rush goal, which was a beautiful goal by our first line . . . and then a great goal by the Lane line. Those guys were hemming them in a little bit, really making Maine defend and I thought we did a good job of that in the third period in general. It’s not easy beating a team twice in a row, especially a team like that.


“We weren’t ready to match their intensity and their grit to start the game in the first 10 minutes. You’re not going to play 60 great minutes. Maybe we do have to learn the hard way but I’ll take not learning the hard way over and over.”

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell can be reached at nancy.marrapese-burrell@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @Elle1027.