The University of Vermont Catamounts erased a pair of one-goal deficits and used Brendan Bradley’s goal with 2:07 left in the game to snap a 2-2 tie and post a 4-2 victory over the University of Maine in the first game of their best-of-three Hockey East quarterfinal series Friday night at the Gutterson Fieldhouse in Burlington, Vermont.

Brady Shaw added an empty-netter to ice it with 1:33 left.

UVM improved to 19-12-4, including five wins over Maine this season, the first time the Catamounts have beaten a team five times during a season in school history.

Maine fell to 13-21-3 while losing for the fourth time in five games. The Bears have lost eight straight to Vermont.

Game 2 will be 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

Jake Rutt snapped an eight-game goalless drought in the first period to stake Maine to a 1-0 lead, but Alexx Privitera’s power-play goal with 1:19 remaining in the second period leveled the scoreline.

Will Merchant’s power-play goal 6:55 into the third period gave the Black Bears a 2-1 lead, but Jarrid Privitera, Alexx’s brother, tied it just 2:45 later.

Bradley gave Vermont its first lead after a neutral zone faceoff. Maine defenseman Dan Renouf tried to flip it ahead but it hit Jake Fallon and dropped to the feet of Shaw, who pushed the puck ahead to Bradley.

Bradley was able to slice to the right of Maine defenseman Ben Hutton and his 20-foot wrister beat Maine goalie Matt Morris to the short side. Morris had already dropped down into his butterfly and Bradley capitalized on the open room above the goalie’s blocker-side shoulder.

Rutt opened the scoring at the 12:42 mark when he took a Cam Brown pass which was banked off the boards, quickly shuffled to his left to avoid UVM’s Travis Blanleil and wristed the puck through a maze of players and through the pads of Mike Santaguida.

Alexx Privitera equalized when Fallon found him all alone in the far side faceoff circle and he comfortably one-timed it into the vacant net.

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