Robby Dee didn’t have to resort to eloquent terms when talking about the University of Maine’s outlook on the Hockey East playoffs.

“It’s do or die for us,” the senior center said after Saturday’s 4-4 tie at Massachusetts. “We need to make it as far as we can in this tournament so, hopefully, we can win it or do well enough to get a bid.” As in, a bid to the 16-team NCAA tournament, which begins March 24.

Before the Black Bears can think tournament, however, their focus has to be solely on the Hockey East playoffs.

The fourteenth-ranked Black Bears (17-10-7) open a best-of-three quarterfinal series at No. 9 Merrimack (22-8-4) at 7:30 p.m. Friday. The winner advances to the league semifinals March 18 at TD Garden in Boston.

The Black Bears ended the regular season on a seven-game unbeaten streak but got a taste of the postseason over the weekend as the Minutemen rallied to tie Saturday’s game in the third period a night after cutting Maine’s lead to 4-3 with less than eight minutes remaining in that game.

“That third period was pretty similar to what a playoff atmosphere is going to be like,” Maine forward Brian Flynn said of the tie at Amherst, Mass. “Hopefully, we can learn from that, but we have to stay more positive and not dwell on that tie but on how well we’ve been playing lately and stick to that.”

Maine is the fifth seed in the tournament and is tied for 18th in the PairWise Rankings, the system that mirrors the method the NCAA selection committee uses to determine the 16-team tournament field.

The nation’s five conference champions — Hockey East, Atlantic Hockey, ECAC, WCHA and CCHA — earn automatic bids, with 11 teams getting at-large bids.

“PairWise,” Maine Coach Tim Whitehead said, “we’re still clawing our way to the tournament.”

The Black Bears won the season series against the Warriors 2-1, winning both games at home by a combined score of 11-1, wins that came seven weeks after the Warriors handed the Black Bears their worst loss of the season, a 7-1 drubbing Jan. 8 at Lawler Arena.

In that loss, Maine led 1-0 on Dee’s early goal before the Warriors took over despite being outshot 28-19 in the second and third periods.

“We need to be physical,” Flynn said. “It’s a tough place to play and a tough place to win two out of three games. We have our hands full.”

The Warriors are 12-2-1 this season at Lawler. In the 7-1 win over Maine, Merrimack forward Stephane Da Costa had two goals and an assist, but the sophomore did not play in the two games in Orono while recovering from a lower-body injury.

Da Costa, a bona fide NHL prospect who opted to return to Merrimack after his freshman season, is sixth in the league in scoring with 14 goals and 25 assists in 28 games. Warriors goalie Joe Cannata is second in Hockey East with a 2.37 goals-against average.

The Black Bears aren’t expecting the same kind of game out of Merrimack as they got two weeks ago at Alfond Arena.

“Merrimack’s going to be out to get us, especially after what we did to them at our place,” Dee said. “They’re a completely different team.

“We know they’re good. We know how it’s going to be down there and that they play well at home, but this is going to be a good opportunity for us.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be reached at 791-6415 or at: rlenzi@mainetoday.com