The Maineiacs build a 2-0 lead before dropping a 4-2 decision to the Rocket.
By Sun Journal staff

What started so well for the Lewiston Maineiacs on Sunday came crashing down in the final 20 minutes.

Maxim Lapierre scored a goal at 7:55 of the third period, and Jimmy Bonneau tacked on another less than three minutes later as P.E.I. overcame an early 2-0 deficit to beat the Maineiacs 4-2 in front of 2,705 at the Charlottetown Civic Center.

The deciding goal was Lapierre’s 14th goal of the season. Bonneau had the assist on Lapierre’s goal as well as the fourth P.E.I. goal. Both goals came on the heels of a penalty shot opportunity squandered by Lewiston’s Mathieu Aubin.

“He made a great move and had the goaltender beat,” said Maineiacs coach Ed Harding. “He slid the puck through the goalie’s legs and it was clear, but it hit the post and bounced out.”

The loss is the second consecutive defeat for the Maineiacs, and drops their record to 14-19-1-1. The Rocket move to 21-9-3-4.

“All that does is make next weekend extremely important for us,” said Harding. “We’re going to take Monday off and then we’ve told the players that it’s three hard days to get ready for Chicoutimi.”

The Maineiacs scored the first goal of the game at 15:17 of the first period. Jonathan Paiement scored his ninth goal with assists from Vladislav Balaz and Alex Bourret.

“I think we played a nearly flawless first period,” said Harding. “We didn’t allow any dangerous shots on goal, and only one puck got to (Maxime) Joyal all period.”

The Maineiacs outshot the Rocket 10-1 in the first frame, giving Joyal an easy go of it through 20 minutes. At one point, approximately 10 minutes into the game, the Rocket had yet to win a faceoff. Lewiston held the edge in that department after the first, 16-10.

In the second period, the Maineiacs continued to be stingy, and added a small cushion between themselves and the Rocket, courtesy of Sheldon Wenzel.

After enduring a flurry of activity toward the middle of the period on P.E.I.’s first scoring opportunity, Wenzel broke in on Rocket netminder Sebastien Nolet and took a feed from Maxime Robert to put the Maineiacs up 2-0.

P.E.I finally broke through against Joyal at 16:51 of the second period while on the power play. It was the Rocket’s 10th shot on goal when Mark Lee snuck the puck by Joyal on passes from Pierre-Andre Bureau and Fabien Laniel.

P.E.I. completed its brief comeback 36 seconds later when Cory Urquhart tacked on his 21st goal of the year from Lee and Jeff MacAuley.

“We allowed that goal with 11 seconds left in the penalty kill, and I think that deflated us a bit,” said Harding. “To give up the second goal was just unlucky, but I think Joyal played well overall.

“I think maybe he’d want their third goal back, they got that off of a bad turnover, but other than that it was just a tough, well-played game.”

Lewiston next takes the ice on Friday and Saturday in a rare double set against Chicoutimi at the Central Maine Civic Center.