ORONO — St. Lawrence Univeristy crashed the University of Maine men’s ice hockey team’s homecoming for the second straight game Saturday night as the Saints silenced 4,689 fans at Alfond Arena with a dominating 5-1 victory over the Black Bears.

Hobey Baker hopeful Kyle Flanagan tallied two goals for the Saints and goaltender Matt Weninger stopped 36 shots as St. Lawrence picked up four points in the weekend series.

“We saw a better effort tonight, but the same result,” Maine head coach Tim Whitehead said. “We need to work harder, but we need to execute as well, and we didn’t do that.”

A Maine turnover resulted in the game’s opening goal at the 7:20 mark in the first period as St. Lawrence capitalized on a weak attempt to clear the defensive zone by defender Mark Nemec.

Nemec attempted to chip the puck out of the zone and failed to power the shot past Saints forward Greg Carey as he waited on the left side of the blue line. Carey intercepted the pass and moved to the slot, releasing a heavy wrist shot from the top of the left circle that beat Dan Sullivan over his glove side shoulder giving the Saints a 1-0 lead.

“They were were more alert than us tonight and executed better,” Whitehead said. “They capitalized in key situations and we didn’t.”

St. Lawrence added to its lead with 5:45 remaining in the first on an attempt by Kyle Flanagan with assists Riley Austin and Greg Carey.

Austin placed a sharp pass on the stick of Flanagan he reached center ice. Flanagan outskated two Maine defenders and toe-dragged around defender Nick Pryor as he reached the right face dot and fired a quick snap shot over Sullivan’s shoulder.

“I came down and saw Sullivan leaning a little bit,” Flanagan said. “I got some ice and just slipped it by him short side.”

The Saints held their 2-0 lead as teams headed into the first intermission.

Whitehead decided to pull Sullivan to start the second period as Matt Morris entered the game in relief.

“Danny just wasn’t sharp this weekend for the first time in a long time” Whitehead said. “Just didn’t seem like he was able to capture it so we made the switch.”

St. Lawrence continued to pile it on as Carey tallied his second goal of the night at the 12:21 mark of the second period as the Saints extended their lead to 3-0 over the Black Bears on a strong back door play.

Saints forward Gunner Hughes picked the puck up in the corner below the right face off dot and skated over the hash mark to the top of the circle where he passed the puck through the slot to the far post for Carey, who tapped the puck into the back of the net.

Goalie Matt Weninger helped the Saints carry their 3-0 lead to the second intermission as he denied Stu Higgins power-play shot.

“It was an absolute huge save,” Flanagan said. “It took away a big goal.”

Following a shot from the high slot, the rebound squirted to the far side of the crease where Higgins snapped it on net. Weninger responded quickly and dived to get his glove on the puck just in time as the period expired.

“They threw a lot at the net tonight and crashed hard,” Weninger said. “Luckily I was able to get over and get my blocker on that puck.”

Maine chipped at the Saints lead to start the third as Nemec finally beat Weninger 4:29 into the period, whittling the Saints’ to two goals.

Devin Shore carried the puck low around the net and skated along the right side of the goal line where he dished the puck to Diamond who quickly passed it through the slot to Nemec just above the right face-off circle. Nemec picked up the puck and fired a low wrist shot past Weninger’s right side.

The Black Bears play picked up noticeably following the goal as the crowd became loud, but the Saints responded with 8:51 left in the third period. Flanagan crashed the slot hard and beat Morris extending the lead to 4-1.

Kyle Essery added another goal for the Saints 16:16 into the third as the St. Lawrence finalized the score at 5-1.

Maine out shot St. Lawrence 37-19 and finished the game 0-5 on the power play. St. Lawrence was 1-5 with the man-advantage.

The Saints improve to 3-1 while Maine drops to 1-4.