LEWISTON – Two bad losses in a row weren’t sitting well with the Lewiston Maineiacs, and certainly not with the coaching staff.
The team hadn’t backchecked well, and the missed assignments in the defensive zone were a thorn in the team’s collective side.
On Sunday, 2,135 patrons at the Colisee finally got to see everything come together as the Maineiacs won a tight-checking, nail-biter against the league-leading Chicoutimi Sagueneens, 2-1.
“We beat them being a little smarter,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “The only part of the game plan that we didn’t execute well was that we took too many penalties. Out of the penalties we took, I would say three or four were of the stupid variety. They did not have to happen. The rest of the game plan, we played it well.”
The penalties, though, are what scared the Maineiacs and their faithful.
The Sags power play has been the best in the league all year, clicking at a 25.5 percent clip going into the game.
Lewiston shut the vaunted attack down completely.
“The biggest thing was our power play,” said Chicoutimi coach Richard Martel. “We didn’t play well on the power play. We gave them the game because of that.
“With the number of good players we have, we have some great scorers and we have done well this year on the power play, but tonight that’s where we lost the game.”
Maxime Boisclair and Stanislav Lascek, the league’s two top scoring threats, were held without a point.
“We practiced. We knew what they do on the power play,” said Harding. “We played them a lot last year. The biggest thing was out guys all got in the passing and the shooting lanes, and we blocked a lot of shots that we wouldn’t block and if they went through, there’s probably a couple of goals there.”
After a scoreless but fast-paced first period, the Maineiacs came out firing in the second. Mathieu Aubin scored his 21st of the season at 1:05 of the middle frame on a slapshot from the right point as time ticked down on a Chicoutimi penalty called in the previous period.
Jonathan Paiement added another goal, the eventual game-winner, just 59 seconds later on a nice give-and-go with Marc-Andre Cliche.
“In the first period, we didn’t put enough shots on net,” said Harding. “All I said to them was that if we got a power play, we need to get shots on net and shoot it high on (Chicoutimi netminder Alexandre) Vincent. Mathieu (Aubin) shot it high and Vincent didn’t see it.”
The Sags got one back at 7:15 of the second when Shane Tremblay potted his 10th of the year when he squeezed the puck between Lewiston goaltender Jonathan Bernier and the left post.
“We scored a goal, but it was Shane Tremblay,” said Martel. Who is Shane? We got nothing from Boisclair, (Marek) Zagrapan, Lascek, (David) Desharnais. With an offensive team like ours, the deficit was just two goals, and we should win when (Vincent) holds a team to two goals.”
The win lifts Lewiston to 15-14-0-4 on the season. The Maineiacs play two more home games before their holiday break, the first of which is Friday night against the P.E.I. Rocket at the Colisee.
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