LEWISTON – Silence.

After Friday night’s game against Chicoutimi, the Lewiston Maineiacs slipped into silent running. No coaches or players came out of the locker room for more than 40 minutes following the game.

“They are in a meeting,” said Maineiacs general manager Normand Gosselin, who poked his head from behind the rigid blue door and walked down the silent corridor behind the stands. “They need some time to talk together, to talk about the past couple of games and practices.”

High on the list of topics, for sure, was Friday’s game.

After taking what seemed like a commanding 3-1 lead into the second period, Lewiston squandered two 5-on-3 power plays and eventually succumbed to a ferocious comeback, falling to the Sagueneens 5-3 in front of 1,754 fans at the Central Maine Civic Center.

“This has been coming for a while now,” said Chicoutimi coach Richard Martel, whose team hadn’t won on the road this season until defeating Shawinigan. “We played very well on the road in the last couple of weeks, and then we won on Wednesday. We finally are over that psychological barrier.”

The win propels Chicoutimi into second place in the division after Quebec, which Chicoutimi was tied to start the night, lost to Moncton 3-1. Lewiston fell into last place when Baie-Comeau tied Rimouski 4-4 to pull even with the Maineiacs.

Lewiston head coach Mario Durocher continues to lead the Canadian junior team toward its tournament in Helsinki, leaving coaches Ed Harding and Jeff Guay in charge.

“Mario is Mario, and Ed is Ed,” said Gosselin.

“The players and the coaches all need to realize that things are different with Mario gone, and everyone needs to be pushing in the same direction, as a team.”

The Maineiacs appeared to have things under control. After giving up a goal just 17 seconds into the game, Lewiston responded with three goals in 14 minutes, one each by Alexandre Picard, Gabriel Balasescu and Alex Bourret, to take a 3-1 lead into the first break.

“It took (Chicoutimi goaltender Jeff) Deslauriers a period to readjust I think,” said Martel. “He was at camp last week, and I think maybe his timing was off, but he came back and played very well the rest of the game.

“He really stepped up in the second and in the third.”

In all, Deslauriers made 36 saves on 39 shots, including all 27 he faced in the final two periods.

Lewiston netminder Brandon Verge, on the other hand, allowed three more to get by in the final two periods, including Sebastien Courcelles’ game-winner on a 2-on-0 after a hideous line change sprung both Courcelles and Yan Gaudette.

“That is very rare to see,” said Martel. “It’s not often you get that opportunity.”

Chicoutimi added an empty-netter with seven seconds to play to ensure the victory.

The same teams square off Saturday night in a final game before the holiday break.

Faceoff is at 7 p.m. at the Central Maine Civic Center.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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