LEWISTON – Defensively, the Lewiston Blue Devils were pleased with their defensive effort through the first period, having allowed no pucks to reach goaltender Zack Plourd through 15 minutes of hockey.
The offense? Now that was a different situation, as Lewiston managed just six shots of its own.
Three different Blue Devils scored in the second frame, though, as Lewiston unleashed 15 shots in the middle frame and went on to defeat Cony 4-0 at the Colisee on Wednesday night.
“I think in the first period we came out a little slow,” said Lewiston coach Norm Gagne. “We played with a little intensity, but it looked like we were going through the motions. I told them to pick up the passion and intensity.”
Despite being so one-sided (Lewiston finished with a 32-5 edge in shots on goal), the game never devolved into a penalty-fest. The Rams (1-4) had three chances with an extra attacker, two of which came in the third period, while Lewiston got its only opportunity with an extra skater early in the final frame, too.
“It was a real clean game both ways,” said Cony coach Chad Foye. “It was pretty good hockey for the most part. Forecheck-wise, we kept it in their end pretty well, but they were patient in getting it out and never made any bad turnovers. When they did turn it over, they were on us quickly. They’re a good team.”
Danny Cloutier put Lewiston ahead 1-0 at 12:27 of the first period when he picked off a Cony pass at the Rams’ blue line and went in on goaltender Nick Claudel up the right side, roofing the puck over Claudel’s glove hand.
In the second, Casey Poussard made it 2-0 at 3:01 with a shot over Claudel’s blocker on a feed from Tim Gilbert in the right corner, and Kevin LeBlanc potted the Blue Devils’ third goal at 10:10 when his slapshot from the left point ricocheted past Claudel off a Cony defender.
“Good teams create the chances and get the good bounces,” said Foye.
“Mike Sarrazin got another good Blue Devils’ bounce at 12:49 of the middle frame as he batted a bouncing puck over Claudel’s shoulder to cap the scoring.
Lewiston faces rival St. Dom’s at the Colisee on Saturday.
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