FALMOUTH — After five breezy wins to christen the Class A hockey season, Lewiston ran into an opponent that wasn’t shy about getting physical and wasn’t disheartened by an early deficit.
Falmouth took the lead on Brendan Hickey’s goal in the final minute of the second period on Thursday night, then got a breakaway tally from Henry Norris and an empty-netter by Josh Noyes to seal an impressive 5-2 victory at Family Ice Center.
Norris scored twice for Falmouth, which has won eight consecutive games since an overtime loss to Cheverus on opening night. Sophomore goalie Spencer Pierce made 27 of his 32 saves in the second and third periods.
“That was a great game. Our team played great in front of me,” Pierce said. “The first couple of shots, the two goals, I had to lock in a little bit. After that I had a couple of easy saves, and that kind of got me in the rhythm a little bit. Then my (defense) took it away. They got everything I didn’t get.”
Alex Robert and Jeromey Rancourt scored in the first period to give Lewiston a 2-1 lead. The Blue Devils dominated much of the game territorially thereafter, with little to show for it.
Lewiston outscored opponents 41-3 coming into the showdown and outshot Falmouth, 34-20.
“We had some chances to put the puck in the net, but too much of the game we got away from the things we’re good at,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We got away from our skate game. They tried to play physical, and we responded and played physical. We can play physical, but we played right into their hands.”
The tone was set when the Devils took a tripping penalty 51 seconds into the game, then turned it into a four-minute disadvantage by arguing with the official and picking up an unsportsmanlike conduct minor.
Lewiston killed the first penalty but couldn’t erase the second. Alex Grade set up Norris’ first goal at 3:45.
“You can’t start the game like that against a team like Falmouth when you know you’re going to be in a battle,” Belleau said.
The Devils regrouped, and Robert launched a laser past Pierce for the equalizer with Lewiston’s first shot on net at 7:21. Alex Rivet assisted the blast from the outer edge of the left circle.
Nick Bisson set up Rancourt’s team-leading eighth goal of the season at 10:03. Pierce was impenetrable from that point.
“He got motivated,” Falmouth coach Deron Barton said of Pierce. “The first two shots, for him, I think he wanted those back, and I think that was his catalyst.”
Chris Camelio tied it at 3:23 of the third after winning a battle along the boards behind Lewiston goalie Jacob Strout.
Pierce immediately followed that with a bang-bang save sequence at the other end, tipping the Devils’ first bid to the glass before slapping down the second with his glove while lying on his side.
Robbie Armitage assisted Hickey’s go-ahead goal with 29 seconds remaining in the period, not long after matching minors that typified the increasing physical tenor of the contest.
“We were running around more focused on making the hit than taking care of our responsibilities,” Belleau said. “We’re a skating team, a puck moving team, and if we can do that we’re going to have some success. We got away from it, and you’ve got to take off your hat to Falmouth for that.”
Lewiston peppered Pierce throughout the third period. The air left the balloon with Norris’ goal at 6:50, set up by Camelio and Hogan Tracy.
With the Devils’ defensemen aggressively joining the push for a tying goal, Norris cherry picked his way into an uncontested opportunity.
“Hogan gave me a great pass. I just came down, saw (Strout) was coming out at me, so I gave him a little head fake and put it in,” Norris said. “I just had confidence the defenders were going to get it up to me, and I started skating as hard as I could.”
The goals were Norris’ 11th and 12th of the season.
Falmouth took advantage of three days of practice between games to adjust its forecheck.
“It’s no secret they’re a very good team. We had to do things very disciplined tonight. We had to stay disciplined in our own end,” Barton said. “They’re a speed team. We knew the things they were going to try to do on us. I give the kids credit. They worked hard over three days of practice, got it done and executed it out here perfectly.”
Lewiston hadn’t allowed multiple goals in a game or won by fewer than three goals all season.
The Devils temporarily missed out on a chance to reclaim No. 1 in the Class A North Heal Point standings, although they have three games in hand on Edward Little.
“You can’t show up for a period, a period and a half and expect to win games,” Belleau said. “Everything kind of fell apart for us. It’s disappointing, but we’ll learn from it.”
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