LEWISTON – To think that Lewiston would skate away with a win or even a tie against Gatineau on Sunday was a long shot in the minds of many fans.

Despite being shorthanded for more than 11 minutes in the first period, the Maineiacs hung with the league-leading Olympiques, and through two periods the deficit was still only one.

In the third, however, Gatineau showed its defensive strength and experience, limiting Lewiston to nine shots despite taking just three of its own, eventually holding off the stubborn home team 4-2 in front of a meager crowd of 1,562 at the Central Maine Civic Center.

“I think we played well tonight, but faced a very good opponent,” said Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher. “They have more experience than we do and it showed, especially in the third period when they had a one-goal lead.”

If both teams seemed a bit tentative in the final two frames, it was because officials called several marginal penalties to open the game. In all, Lewiston skated a man short for 11:30 out of the first 20 minutes, while Gatineau stayed short-handed for three minutes in that same span, giving both teams just over five minutes of 5-on-5 hockey.

“It was hard to establish a rhythm in the first part of the game,” said Gatineau coach Benoit Groulx. “Right away there was a 5-on-3, and we scored, but it was all back and forth, and they had a very aggressive penalty kill, so it kept us off balance.”

“Right from the beginning the ref took control of the game the way he wanted to,” added Durocher. “It was very inconsistent.”

After calling 12 penalties in the first period, officials called just seven the rest of the way, and just one in the third period.

The Olympiques took advantage of their opportunities in the first period, notching the first goal on a 5-on-3 power play at 2:54 on a Doug O’Brien slap shot from the left point.

Lewiston struck back for its only power play tally of the night at 7:12. Jonathan Paiement fired a slap shot from the right point that clanged off the left post. The puck idled on the line, but officials could still see it behind Gatineau goaltender David Tremblay. Gabriel Balasescu finally found the puck and knocked it over the line to knot the score at one.

Gatineau took the lead back at 15:25 of the first frame, again on a power play, when O’Brien intercepted a Vladislav Balaz clearing attempt and hit Guillaume Labrecque with a perfect pass in front of Lewiston’s Brandon Verge. Labrecque flipped a backhander over Verge for the 2-1 lead.

“I told the guys to settle down and just keep playing our game after the first period and all those penalties,” said Durocher. “We were fortunate to still be within one goal.”

In the second, the Maineiacs again evened the score at 8:33 when Paiement took a pass at the point from Marc-Andre Cliche, deked to his right and back to his left, and lofted a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net, past Tremblay’s glove.

Philippe Dupuis put the Olympiques ahead for good at 14:12 of the second with a wrister the beat Verge high to the blocker side, and Jean-Michel Daoust notched the insurance goal at 15:23 of the third to round out the scoring.

The Maineiacs take the ice again to play three games in four nights starting on Thursday, all at the Central Maine Civic Center.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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