AMHERST – The No. 16 UMass hockey team let a two-goal third-period lead slip away in its 2-2 tie against No. 5 Maine on Saturday night at the Mullins Center.

The Black Bears scored on strikes from Luke Antonacci and Nicholas Niemo, less than five minutes apart, and used that momentum to win the shootout, taking the extra point in the Hockey East standings.

Saturday’s result sent the Minutemen into the No. 6 in the conference standings and they’ll host Vermont on Wednesday in the first round of the Hockey East playoffs.

Still, UMass (19-12-5) took 4-of-6 points in the weekend series against Maine following Friday’s 5-1 win and seemingly locked up their spot in the NCAA tournament at 10th in the Pairwise ratings.

“I thought we showed really well this weekend against a top-5 team in the country,” Minutemen head coach Greg Carvel said. “I know we gave up the lead in the third there, but we probably should have scored two, three, four goals after they tied the game up. It’s hard to win two games in this league when you play the same opponent twice, especially a team as good as Maine, and I thought our kids, as well as they played [Friday] night, I thought that they gave a great effort.”

Sophomore Dans Locmelis was the Minutemen’s star on offense in the regular-season finale on Saturday, notching UMass’ first goal eight minutes into action, then assisting on Larry Keenan’s follow-up tally in the second period. The Boston Bruins draft pick led UMass with six shots in the draw.

“He to me, he is the one kid that everything you tell the team to do, he does it,” Carvel said on Locmelis. “I watch the game over and over and I’m like ‘oh yep, we asked them to do that, asked them to do that.’ He’s fast, he’s smart, he doesn’t have the numbers I guess as other guys, but as a coach, I love him. He’s reliable, he’s talented, he’s smart, he’s a great kid. He’s one of my favorite just because he’s always doing the right things.”

The Minutemen’s power play went 0-for-4 on Saturday, including a five-minute major man-advantage late in the second period after Black Bears forward Taylor Makar cross-checked senior Lucas Mercuri into UMass’ post. The Minutemen managed eight shots across the four power plays, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

“I thought we had some decent looks, but Maine did a good job,” Mercuri said on the power play. “The looks that we wanted [Friday], they did a good job minimizing them a little bit more today. We’re shooting pucks, we’re getting them to the net. [It’s] unfortunate we couldn’t find one tonight, but our power play has been good all year so we’ll find a way.”

After losing freshman Daniel Jencko midway through Friday’s game, UMass went down another body as junior defenseman Lucas Olvestad didn’t return to the ice for the second and third periods. Carvel didn’t offer an update on the former Denver blueliner after the game.

“I don’t think those goals really had anything to do with our defensemen,” Minuteman captain Linden Alger said. “We weren’t tired really, in the third period.”

Sophomore goalie Michael Hrabal had a low-event night with 21 saves. UMass’ No. 1 netminder has already surpassed his freshman year record with a 17-10-5 clip and Carvel remains very confident in the Prague, Czechia native and the rest of the D-corps.

“We haven’t given up a lot of goals,” Carvel said. “I don’t even know what our goals-against is in the streak that we’ve been on… but I’d be interested to know what our goals against is. I know Mike’s save-percentage is really good over that stretch.”

Saturday also served as senior day for Minutemen skaters Ryan Lautenbach, Joey Musa, Mercuri and Alger. 

“Just an amazing opportunity especially for us three to play four years here, five years for [Alger],” Lautenbach said. “Just make amazing relationships and brothers that you’ll have the rest of your life and something that I’ll definitely cherish.”