PROVIDENCE, R.I. - The University of Massachusetts hockey team ended January with a winning record after a victory at Providence College Saturday night.

The No. 15 Minutemen scored their first two goals on the power play en route to a 4-1 triumph over the Friars before a crowd of 1,492 at Schneider Arena.

Michael Marcou, Will Ortiz, Rocco Carzo, and Eddy Olczyk all found the net, while goalie Dan Meyers, making a rare start, turned aside 26 Providence shots to help the Minutemen (16-10, 11-8 Hockey East) reverse a two-game mini-slide.

"I thought the competitiveness was real good tonight," said UMass coach Don "Toot" Cahoon. "It gave us a chance to execute some of the things that we did pretty well."

The Minutemen finished 5-4 during January, an improvement from the last two seasons when they were a combined 2-9-3 in the year's first month.

The win lifted UMass into a tie for second place in Hockey East with No. 14 Boston College at 22 points. They are five behind No. 13 New Hampshire which defeated Merrimack 4-3 in overtime Saturday.

The Minutemen and Eagles play at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Mullins Center in a game that will be televised on NESN.

Though UMass was just two-for-eight on the power play against the Friars, it gave the Minutemen a 2-0 lead after two periods.

After a scoreless first period, Marcou snapped the deadlock with his sixth goal of the season at three minutes, 11 seconds of the second period after Providence had been whistled for too many men on the ice. He took freshman defenseman Darren Rowe's nifty rink-wide pass in the right circle and slapped it past Friars goalie Alex Beaudry (39 saves).

"You've got to take what they give you," said Rowe, whose pinpoint passes led to the goals by Marcou and Olczyk. "In between periods, we talked about what to key on.

"It was a good job by the guys to get open," added Rowe, who tripled his point total with the two assists. "Mike Marcou, on the first one, just went back door. I just got a pass to him and he made a great shot."

Then at the eight-minute mark, Ortiz got his 12th goal of the season from just outside the right post, when he stuffed in a rebound on a shot by Casey Wellman.

That was the payoff for some tweaks applied by UMass to its power play.

Providence "took some things away earlier and later in the game, we went to another look," said Cahoon. "You saw us go from up top to down low, just based on trying to take what they give you. We did a good job of recognizing that."

The Minutemen penalty killers came up big, too, killing all five Friar power plays, including a full two-minute 5-on-3 advantage. They allowed Providence just two harmless shots on the power play.

"I thought they were very confident in that situation," Cahoon said. "It was huge."

After Ian O'Connor scored for the Friars at 16 seconds of the third period, Carzo scored 1:06 later to restore a two-goal lead for UMass.

Olczyk added his first collegiate goal at 6:17 to cap the scoring.

NOTES:James Marcou, the nation's leading scorer heading into the weekend, got his 40th point of the season with an assist on the goal by Ortiz.

Meyers was making his first appearance in six games, and just his second in the last 13.

"I felt great," said Meyers. "The confidence was there. Most importantly, I saw everything. The team was doing a great job of letting me see the shots.

"I'm just ready when I get my call," he added. "I know I'm good enough to play on a consistent basis. When I get an opportunity, I've just got to take advantage of it."