LOWELL, Mass. – Although the University of Maine didn’t literally build a brick wall in front of its net for this weekend’s Hockey East series at UMass-Lowell, it certainly appeared that way.

Dan Sullivan made 28 saves Saturday for his second shutout in 24 hours, Gustav Nyquist scored two goals and Tanner House assisted on three as the Black Bears defeated the River Hawks, 3-0.

The Black Bears equaled their longest winning streak of the season with their third straight win and swept the three-game season series with the River Hawks (4-24-2, 3-20 Hockey East) by a combined 15-2.

Sullivan, a freshman, has proven to be a pleasant surprise for Maine (14-10-6, 11-8-4).

“Dan had a great fall semester for us,” Coach Tim Whitehead said. “He’s really emerged as our most consistent goalie.

“Like Lowell, we have young goaltenders this year. Consistency is always difficult to get. But I’ve been really proud of Danny.

“He got injured in January, so we didn’t have an option to go with him. This is a great indication of how he’s going to bounce back. It’s tremendous.

“I thought he was very poised in the net calm, strong and assertive when he had to be.”

The Black Bears picked up where they left off Friday night, firing pucks from all angles and making life miserable for the River Hawks’ goalie — in this case Doug Carr (35 saves).

Nyquist gave Maine a 1-0 lead at 8:38 of the first when he beat Carr with a high shot after a pass from Brian Flynn.

The teams were skating four on four when Diamond upped Maine’s lead to 2-0. Diamond drove the net and deflected House’s pass inside the far right post at 15:01.

Maine was killing off a second penalty in the second period when Nyquist displayed why he’s the team’s leading scorer.

House slid the puck to Nyquist, who outraced a defenseman in the neutral zone, put on a burst of speed and slid a backhander under Carr at 9:31 for his second short-handed goal of the season, which produced a 3-0 lead.

“That was the key goal, obviously,” Whitehead said. “We had the two-goal lead and Lowell came out of the gate very strong in the second. They were carrying the play and, all of a sudden, that goal really deflated the balloon.

“Short-handers are always big, but the timing of that one was especially important. (Nyquist) showed a lot of poise and a lot of speed.”

Even though the River Hawks outshot Maine 15-12 in the period, it was a moot point since Sullivan stopped everything that found its way to the net.

“Really, if it weren’t for Dan, I thought they dominated the second,” Whitehead said. “We had a good first and then we settled down in the third and played smarter with the puck.”