LEWISTON – Last season, Sherbrooke used four victories over Montreal to advance to the second round of the playoffs.

But a new year and new cities for both teams means different results.

Dominic Soucy scored a power-play goal at 16:11 of the second period to put P.E.I. ahead 2-1. The Rocket used stifling defense, timely shot blocking and stellar play from goaltender Sebastien Nolet the rest of the way to hold off the Lewiston Maineiacs 3-1 in front of 2,374 fans at the Central Maine Civic Center Friday.

“All four games this season against the Maineiacs have been hard fought,” said Rocket coach Alain Vigneault. “Both teams play very much alike, and if not for all of the power plays for both teams, the shots would have been very low.”

Lewiston has dropped all four games to P.E.I. this season, and outshot the Rocket in every game. On Friday, Lewiston managed 32 shots on Nolet and connected just once, while the Rocket fired 28 shots at Brandon Verge and snuck three by him. “Both goaltenders played very well,” said Vigneault. “I think (Nolet) made some very good saves when we needed them, and that may have been the difference in the third.”

Down just 2-1 in the third, the Maineiacs caught a break when two P.E.I. players were called for minor penalties just one minute apart. Nolet and the P.E.I. penalty kill shut down Lewiston’s offense for the entire penalty kill. “We struggled on the 5-on-3 and that turned out to be a big difference,” said Maineiacs coach Ed Harding. “We got some good chances, and we just couldn’t get it past Nolet.”

Verge was solid on the other end as well, playing one of his best games of the season as he took several scoring opportunities away with a quick glove and pads. Lewiston opened the scoring at 8:10 of the first period when Alexandre Picard fired a slap shot from the left circle through Nolet’s legs for his 24th goal of the season.

Fans had little time to celebrate, however, as Jonathan Persson scored his 12th of the season from Maxim Lapierre just 31 seconds later.

“Scoring first can be a big momentum builder, especially to get the fans into the game,” said Harding. “With that quick one the other way, sometimes it causes them all to just sit back in their seats again. Either way, though, it was a great turnout and they saw a fantastic hockey game.”

Soucy scored the game-winner late in the second, and P.E.I. capped the scoring in the third when it caught Lewiston pinching at the blue line late in the third. Pierre-Andre Bureau converted a pass from Fabien Laniel on a 2-on-1 break at 18:46 of the third to finish things off.

Lewiston plays Sunday in Drummondville before returning home for a two-game series against the Rimouski Oceanic on Thursday and Friday.

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