LEWISTON – Rimouski may be momentarily out of reach as the Eastern Division leader, but second place is well within the Lewiston Maineiacs’ sights.

Thursday, the Maineiacs get a chance to make up some very important ground when Baie-Comeau, the team currently sitting at No. 2 in the division, visits the Central Maine Civic Center.

“This is a very important game and a very important two points,” said Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher. “Any time you can win a division game against a team that is above you in the standings, it’s important.”

Baie-Comeau currently is five points ahead of Lewiston at 12-14-1, but the Drakkar have also played in two more games.

On offense

The Lewiston Maineiacs’ offense has been clicking well of late, despite some closer than expected scores.

In their nine games in November, the Maineiacs are 5-3-0-1 and have scored an average of 3.9 goals per game, despite being shut out by P.E.I.

“On offense, we have been working well and shooting a lot of shots,” said Durocher. “The thing we need to do is just to keep working hard and continue to shoot. Eventually, those shots will go in.”

One part of the offense that has seemingly struggled recently is the power play. The Maineiacs have scored just twice in their previous 30 power play attempts, a dismal 6.7 percent.

“They get frustrated when they don’t score every time,” said Durocher, “and they have to realize that a good power play is one of four, or even one of five. That is the level we need to be looking at for the power play.”

On defense

The Drakkar have one win in four tries against the Maineiacs, and typically play into the hand of Durocher’s defensive style.

“They try to send their forwards a bit too quick sometimes,” said Durocher, “especially when they are at home they like to be on the attack all the time. This may help us in our transition game.”

The Maineiacs have scored five more goals than the Drakkar in their previous meetings. Most of those goals have come after a quick defensive transition.

“Our offense comes from our defense,” said Durocher. “If we catch them with their defense pinching, we can get some 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s going the other way.”

Another big key for Lewiston will be the absence of leading scorer Jean-Francois Jacques from the Drakkar’s lineup. Jacques suffered an injury on Monday and, according to the Maineiacs coaching staff, isn’t expected to play Thursday.

Game time Thursday for the Maineiacs is 7 p.m, and they will return to the ice Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m. to face the No. 1 team in the CHL, the Gatineau Olympiques.

Injury notes

It will be another week at least until goalie Matt Davis returns to the ice for the Lewiston Maineiacs, according to Durocher.

“He started working on the bike today, which is a good sign,” said Durocher. “All of the x-ray’s have been negative, which is also good, but we are told he still needs to sit, so he will.”

Maxime Joyal will join the club this weekend to back up Brandon Verge.

As for Alex Bourret, who had his jaw broken by a wayward puck last week, he will potentially dress for Sunday’s game against Gatineau. Bourret suffered a similar injury to his face last season and returned quickly while wearing a full face shield.

“He did it last year and he didn’t seem to suffer any with a full face mask,” said Durocher. “We are waiting for that to come and he might get a chance to play on Sunday.”

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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