The Black Bears were the first Hockey East team Northeastern faced this season.

“I had been trying to stress to the team all week last week how important every Hockey East game is and that each team is going to be competitive every game that we play,” head coach Dave Flint said following practice on Monday. “You can’t take anyone lightly.”

Though there were scoring opportunities early, it was not until Coyne was hooked and got a penalty shot chance that the score changed.

“I’ve had a couple penalty shots in my life – this was my first collegiate penalty shot,” Coyne said after practice Monday.” It was probably the most important penalty shot I’ve had in my career.”

Junior forward Casey Pickett intercepted a pass intended for a Maine player and fed the puck to Coyne, who was already heading up the ice. Defender Ashley Norum hooked Coyne on her breakaway and a penalty shot was called.

“[The ref] came up to me and said, ‘You know what you’re doing?’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ve seen the Mighty Ducks,” Coyne  said.

Moments later,  the freshman skated down the ice and beat Maine goalie Brittany Ott five-hole to make it 1-0 midway through the period.

Flint called Coyne a warrior when speaking of her play in her first season.

“She changes the dynamic of our team,” he said. “A lot of teams have to worry about her and they forget about other players on the ice. She does so much beyond just points.”

The power play came out strong in the middle frame as the Huskies netted a pair of goals with the man advantage to extend their lead. Though he said he does not want to jinx anything, Flint mentioned the power play has been pretty good and that those special teams are clutch in order to win games.

“We’ve had trouble the last couple of seasons with the power play being such a big part of the game,” he said. “For your power play, you need players that can make plays and we have some kids that can do that. The line of Esposito, Coyne and Pickett and then [Maggie] DiMasi and [Stephanie] Gravonsky on that power play has been clicking. Even the other power play with Rachel Llanes’ line; they’re keeping it simple and creating good scoring chances.That’s what we need out of them.”

Junior forward Brittany Esposito buried a puck at 2:08 with help from linemates Coyne and Pickett. Later, freshman defender Colleen Murphy had a wide open net and picked up her first collegiate goal at 19:09 to make the score 3-0.

A comfortable lead was soon at stake in the third period as Maine began to come back. Dawn Sullivan got a puck past senior goalie Florence Schelling (26 saves) at 11:10 that Flint described as “fluky,” which shifted the momentum in the game and set the stage for a comeback from their opponents. Brittany Dougherty then put her team within a goal at 15:39 on the power play.

“I felt like we had slowed them down a little bit and they had lost that momentum, and then all of a sudden they got a power play goal so that pumped them back up. We had to battle to hang on for that win,” Flint said.

Despite the late surge in offense from the Black Bears, the Huskies allowed no more goals, resulting in their first conference win.

“We have defined ourselves as a team that is never going to give up, and no matter what the score is late in the third, we’re going to fight ‘til the buzzer is zero,” Coyne said.

Hockey East is a whole new league for Coyne, who only has one more weekend with the Huskies before heading off to join the United States Women’s National Team to compete at the Four Nations Cup in Sweden.

“This is my first time in the league so every game is a new thing and new experience to me,” she said. “Obviously it meant more as a Hockey East game but at the same time it was just a new experience being at a different rink with a different atmosphere and never having played against Maine in my life.”

Up next on the schedule for the Huskies is a home and home series against the University of Connecticut Huskies. The puck drops at 7 p.m. Friday at Matthews Arena and 4 p.m. Saturday in Storrs, Connecticut.