BOSTON – Jimmy Howard just shrugged it off.

He had seen 41 shots and made it sound like he’d only seen 14.

It was all in another night’s work for the University of Maine goaltender.

“I learned a lot from last year,” said Howard, who stopped all but one shot in Thursday’s Frozen Four win over Boston College. “I learned a lot of lessons down the stretch last year, and I didn’t want to repeat that. I just learn a lot and depend on my team. A lot of it is the D’ and forwards doing the job. That makes it a lot easier.”

It was against a different team and with different stakes, but there was nothing different about Howard’s game Thursday night.

Just weeks after Howard’s epic 63-save performance in the Hockey East Championship triple-overtime win over UMass, the Maine goaltender returned to the FleetCenter and was just as sharp. The goaltender with the top save percentage in the nation is a primary reason the Black Bears are playing for their third national championship Saturday.

“Jimmy obviously kept us in the hockey game,” said Maine coach Tim Whitehead. “That’s no secret at all.”

Howard’s play kept the Black Bears within striking distance for much of their Frozen Four showdown. Boston College outshot the Black Bears 33-15 through the first two periods, but thanks to Howard, the teams entered the homestretch deadlocked at 1-1.

“He’s got excellent concentration,” said Whitehead. “He has an exceptional ability to concentrate. He’s always focused on the puck. He doesn’t lose sight of the puck. I think that’s his best trait. He also anticipated extremely well. He’s always a step ahead.”

Howard downplayed the difference in shots – 41-18. He said many came from the outside and weren’t that difficult. Everyone else might say otherwise.

“I appreciate Jimmy’s modesty but he hasn’t seen the scoresheet and he hasn’t seen where those shots came from,” said Whitehead. “They had some shots from some pretty good areas.”

BC put the pressure on Maine’s defense from the get-go. The Eagles hammered out 17 shots in the opening period but came up empty.

Much of Boston College’s pressure came off transition rushes. The Eagles’ speed had Maine caught up ice numerous times, leaving Howard left to fend off all comers.

Just moments into the game, Patrick Eaves got off a shot on a 2-on-1 and got a second whack at the rebound. That caught Howard off guard, but he still smothered the puck.

Midway through the period, Dave Spina snuck past the Black Bear blue line and snapped off a wrister that was gloved. Howard also got a piece of a Ty Hennes redirection in front.

BC had two quality shots on the power play but Howard had them both. A quick transition from BC netminder Matti Kaltiainen to Ryan Shannon set up a quick shot by Ben Eaves that Howard kicked aside. He later stopped a 2-on-1 when Stephen Gionta had the initial shot and Ryan Murphy pounced on the rebound only to have Howard smother it.

“It helps having Jimmy Howard in net obviously,” said forward Jon Jankus. “He’ll stand on his head if he has to to win a championship.”

The shots kept coming in the second as BC outshot UMaine 16-5. The Eagles finally beat Howard at 2:35 of the second. A defensive breakdown off a faceoff allowed for a Shannon backhander that tied it.

Howard, however, preserved the stalemate despite plenty of pressure and power-play chances.

He gloved a Shannon wrister off a Tony Voce drop pass. He stopped a Voce bid on a wrap-around following a Maine turnover in its own end. Then when BC had a 5-on-3 power play, he gloved a Patrick Eaves wrister and later thwarted Eaves and Voce on a nice pass play with the man-advantage in the final minute.

Those critical penalty kills helped Maine survive and set the tone for a much better defensive final period in which Howard made just eight stops.

“We took undisciplined penalties,” said Whitehead of the second period. “The outworked us and they had tons of chances. Jimmy kept us in the game.”

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