LEWISTON – If Friday night’s Lewiston Maineiacs lineup looks a bit different than last week, or even the week before, it’s not a figment of the imagination.

For the first time this season, every forward on the roster will be in uniform, and only Richard Stehlik will be missing from a defense that has allowed a league-low 78 shots on goal, an average of 19.5 per game through four games.

Lewiston hosts Baie-Comeau at 7 p.m. at the Central Maine Civic Center.

“The lines we are running in the game, this will be our first chance to see what they can do together,” said Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher. “Our forwards will all be there, and the only player missing is Stehlik.”

The Maineiacs’ top line of Alexandre Picard, Vladislav Balaz and Gabriel Balasescu differs greatly from the line in place before. All three of those players are proven goal-scorers, although Balasescu will be relied upon more as a set-up player with the return of Balaz.

“His career high, he set last year, is 10 goals,” said Durocher. “It’s great that he has found a scoring touch this year (Balasescu has scored three goals in three games), but he is good on the defensive side, and we need him there, too.”

Maxime Robert, Alex Bourret and Sheldon Wenzel, most of whom saw action on the first line while players were either at professional camps or injured, will play together on the second line and have already proven they can score. Nick Cowan, Mathieu Aubin and Pierre-Luc Faubert will play together for the first time, while line four has Marc-André Cliche lined up with Olivier Legault and Ryan Murphy.

On the other side of the ice on Friday will be a familiar opponent. In the season-opener for both teams, the Drakkar defeated the Maineiacs on a last-minute goal.

“It’s not like their lineup will be the same either,” said Durocher. “We played them before, but all of their over-aged (20-year-old) players were not there, and we didn’t have Davis or Balaz.”

Leading the Drakkar is Alexandre Blais with seven points in five games, followed by Travis Antler, who has five points in just three games. Antler, Luis Tremblay and Maxime Fortunus are all solid defensemen with plenty of experience, and the game on Friday may come down to which offense can solve the solid defense in front of them.

“All week, we have worked on scoring in front,” said Durocher. “We need more accuracy in front of the net and we need to score goals on the chances we get. We’ve out-shot everyone this season, we need to capitalize on that.”

On Sunday, Lewiston will host the Quebec Remparts. The two teams played two games in the preseason, both of which included multiple fights and more than 100 minutes in penalties. In the regular season, Quebec is 3-3 on the year, while Baie-Comeau is 3-2. Both the Drakkar and the Remparts are in the Maineiacs’ division, so each represents a key game for Lewiston.

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