As impressive as the Lewiston Maineiacs’ offense was in the first period Friday night at the Colisee Pepsi in Quebec – scoring two goals on the first nine shots of the game – the Remparts were that much more impressive to begin the second.
Four Quebec skaters combined for five goals on 14 shots in the first nine minutes of the middle frame, and the Remparts’ defense and replacement goaltender Kevin Desfosses held the Maineiacs off from there for the team’s ninth win in 11 games, a 6-4 decision over Lewiston.
“We played a decent 10 minutes of hockey,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “We stuck to the game plan for 10 minutes, but we became a very unintelligent hockey team, and we tried to get very individual.”
The loss is the second in a row for the Maineiacs, who drop back to .500 at 14-14-0-4 with three games left, all at home, before the league’s annual holiday break begins on Dec. 18.
“We haven’t played that well at home anyway,” said a frustrated Harding. “If we play stupid against Chicoutimi, we’re going to get killed 10-0”
The Maineiacs showed no ill effects of a longer-than-usual bus ride at the start of the game thanks to the snowstorm.
Lewiston took the first nine shots on goal against Desfosses. Brandon Roach notched his 10th of the season at 3:34 of the opening frame on a blistering slapshot from the point, beating Defosses over his shoulder.
Ten seconds and a quick faceoff later, Jonathan Paquet scored his first goal ever in the QMJHL after he took a Rob McCarthy faceoff win and wristed the puck past the stunned Quebec netminder.
After Quebec righted the ship in the first and stopped the bleeding, the Remparts likely heard a mouthful from head coach Patrick Roy at the break. In the second period, they played like it.
Michal Sersen got the first of his two in the period just 14 seconds into the frame, and Simon Courcelles knotted the score at two just 1:09 later.
Marc-Edouard Vlasic gave the Remparts the lead at 4:56, and Sersen extended his team’s lead with a goal at 7:44. Todd Chinova added the first of his career 1:02 later to cap the Quebec flurry.
“It all started in the offensive zone,” said Harding. “We’ve been working on the backcheck for two weeks, and the guys need to know when to be on offense and when to be on defense and in transition. Quebec’s defense killed us tonight.”
Mathieu Aubin hit the 20-goal plateau with help from Eric Castonguay and Jonathan Paiement at 13:32 of the third to cut the Quebec lead to two at 5-3, but Vlasic netted his second of the game at 5:11 of the third period with his team shorthanded to ice the win.
Eric Castonguay made things interesting with another power-play goal at 10:32 of the third, but Quebec fended off the rest of Lewiston’s chances.
Lewiston is back on the ice Sunday night at home against Western Division-leading Chicoutimi. Faceoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
jpelletier@sunjournal.com
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