Ed Harding knew it wasn’t going to be a good night for the Lewiston Maineiacs, and that was even before his hockey team gave up a goal in the first 14 seconds of play Tuesday night.
Lewiston gave up two quick goals to start the game and had an even worse second period in a 6-2 loss to Halifax at the Halifax Metro Centre.
“I saw it last night,” said Harding, the Maineiacs assistant coach. “We had a bad trip to the game. We weren’t sharp at practice. We weren’t ready.”
The Maineiacs had won three games straight prior to the holiday break but couldn’t find the focus against the Mooseheads. Rane Carnegie scored two goals and had two assists for Halifax, while Franklin MacDonald had a goal and two assists. Lewiston’s top producer was Mathieu Aubin with a goal and an assist.
Harding said his club was more focused on its holiday plans than hockey and wasn’t ready to pay the price on the ice. Halifax, fourth overall in the Eastern Division with 45 points, opened up some distance on the fifth-place Maineiacs with 38 points.
“We weren’t ready to play,” said Harding. “Our guys worked on the perimeter and hoped it would be an easy game.”
Just 14 seconds into the game, Carnegie scored his 22nd of the year. He then set up Luciano Lomanno at 6:34 for a quick 2-0 lead.
Lewiston got an unassisted goal from Aubin at 8:54, but two goals in the second opened up a 4-1 advantage.
“We played even worse in the second,” said Harding. “At one point, we were outshot 17-1.”
MacDonald scored on a power play at 9:12, and David Brine made it 4-1 at 11:11 with another power-play tally.
Lewiston got a goal from Stefan Chaput at 12:41 of the third on the power play, but Halifax got a pair of shorthanded, empty-net goals from Carnegie and Garrett Peters.
“We used the third period as sort of a practice,” said Harding. “We started playing the way we’re supposed to be playing.”
The Maineiacs play at Saint John on Wednesday.
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