LEWISTON — The Lewiston forward line of Tanner Anctil, Troy Poulin and Dylan Blue had a dominant five minutes to start the second period, with the Blue Devils down a goal.
Each member of Lewiston’s grey line scored a goal and added two assists en route to a 5-1 win over Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse in a boys hockey matchup at The Colisee on Wednesday.
“They are our leaders and to get them on the scoreboard is big for us,” Lewiston coach Jamie King said.
The Blue Devils (3-1) also got a big contribution from their blue line of Evan Knowlton, Cody Dionne and Colten Daniels.
Eagles (4-4) coach A.J. Kavanaugh was well-aware that Lewiston had two big lines.
“They have (two) top lines, we knew who they were,” Kavanaugh said. “(Evan Knowlton) is a great player. He’s not a big kid, but he finds the right areas of the ice. He put that second (goal) away. They have strong lines and you have to pay attention to it.”
The Blue Devils were down 1-0 after the first period.
The scoring started early for Lewiston in the second period when Blue scored 41 seconds into the frame, with Anctil and Poulin setting the goal up to tie the game at 1-1.
Anctil found Blue in front of the crease with a pass from behind the goal line.
“We knew we had to battle back and we needed to get the job done,” Blue said. “I was able to get the first goal.”
Eagles goalie Sean Moore (24 saves) stopped a Dionne shot but Knowlton was in the slot to put home the rebound at the 2:14 mark.
Nearly 90 seconds later, it was Poulin’s turn to pot a goal. His linemates had the helpers.
“We are working well together,” Poulin said. “Each day, we are getting better and better.”
Finally, Anctil scored to cap the four-goal second period for Lewiston just past the five-minute mark. Again, his linemates had the assists.
Anctil said the performance he and his linemates put on got the team going.
“I think it was big for the team, just getting the line going to get that momentum is big,” Anctil said.
Kavanaugh took a timeout to settle his team down after the fourth goal.
“We expected the push back; it’s just unfortunate some lapses in front of our own net,” Kavanaugh said. “Every goal in that stretch was in front of Sean. He made the first save. Unfortunately, we just didn’t clear the rebounds.”
Cam Morin scored a breakaway goal in the third period to round out the scoring.
The Blue Devils had the game’s first scoring chance early in the first period when Daniels’ backhander beat Moore cleanly but rang the crossbar.
“Sometimes it’s just a bounce here and there; that’s what happened,” King said. “They got the first goal, but we were pressuring them at first. They have a good goaltender. We knew we were going to struggle putting pucks in the net tonight.”
The Eagles started to tilt the ice in their favor, including getting the first power play of the game. The Eagles’ power-play units peppered Lewiston goalie Ben Cloutier (21 saves) but couldn’t get anything past the junior.
“We had a great start. I loved our intensity,” Kavanaugh said. “The kids felt good about themselves. It was just a little let down in the second period. The first traditional Class A power we have played this year, I liked how the boys stepped up at the start of the game.”
The Eagles finally broke through with 3:35 remaining in the first period when Cloutier stopped a Bryce Poulin shot, but Dylan Richards swept the rebound into the goal. Johnny Hole also had an assist.
“(He brings that) offensive punch,” Kavanaugh said of Richards. “He has been clicking with Bryce Poulin, who has been having a great season, too. We added Johnny Hole to that line, a junior who led our team in scoring last year.”
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