A much-needed win nearly slipped through the Lewiston Maineiacs’ fingers Friday night, but Eric Castonguay put an end to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles’ comeback bid with an empty-net goal at 18:43 of the third period to help the Maineiacs hang on for a 5-3 win in front of 3,362 at the Centre 200.
“The biggest thing tonight for us was getting out of the first period,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “The way Cape Breton have been beating people at home is by killing them in the first period. We survived, and we had confidence.”
Brandon Roach, Maxime Mathieu, Marc-Andre Cliche and Marc-Andre Daneau also scored for the Maineiacs (13-12-0-4), and backup goaltender Travis Fullerton stopped 37 shots in his first action since losing to Shawinigan in early November, to earn the win.
“It was a good game for Travis,” said Jodoin. “He played for the whole game, and he played well and made all the key saves.”
Following Lewiston’s loss to Moncton on Wednesday, Jodoin was worried about the team’s even-strength goal production, which had been abysmal in recent games.
Friday, the Maineiacs notched three goals at even strength, including the game-clinching empty-netter.
“At least we got those three,” said Jodoin.
As has been the case in recent games, Lewiston crawled out of the gate. The Screaming Eagles gave the home fans something to cheer about at 2:39 of the opening frame when Robert Slaney beat Fullerton to give his team a 1-0 edge.
“That was just a bad D-zone turnover with our fourth line stuck out there,” said Jodoin.
The Maineiacs held their own for most of the rest of the period and managed a late goal by Roach, which knotted the score at one going into the first break.
In the second, Lewiston exploded for three goals, giving them as many goals in two periods against Cape Breton goalie Ondrej Pavelec (four) as the team had in two full games against the keeper in Lewiston nearly two months ago.
“It’s nice to get the four goals against him, but I have to say the first one was kind of a lucky bounce for us between his legs,” said Jodoin. “That helped to change the game.”
Mathieu netted his fourth of the season just 10 seconds into the middle period, and Daneau padded the lead at 1:38.
With time winding down in the middle frame, Cliche deposited his 13th of the year into the net on assists from Denny and Fullerton to push the Maineiacs’ edge to 4-1.
Cape Breton (18-12-0-1) managed two goals amid a flurry of activity in the second half of the third period to pull within one at 4-3 before Castonguay iced it with his goal.
Lewiston concludes its road trip Sunday afternoon with a matinee against PEI.
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