The Olympiques derail the Lewiston Maineiacs with a 6-2 victory.
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

GATINEAU, Quebec – An eight-game win streak and a surge of mid-season momentum notwithstanding, Sunday’s game in Gatineau had trouble written all over it for the Lewiston Maineiacs.

Faced with defending one of the best offensive teams in Canada, the Maineiacs finally buckled on the third day of a three-game road trip, falling to the Olympiques 6-2 at the Robert Guertin Center in front of 3,241 screaming fans.

The loss drops the Maineiacs’ record to 24-23-1-1. They remain five points back of Chicoutimi and are now seven back of Rimouski and in the chase for the Eastern Division title.

“They were ready for us,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “They don’t normally lose at home, and they lost here in Friday. I am sure they had a good, hard practice (Saturday) and were well-prepared for us.”

The game was never close, and the Maineiacs showed strain after having been on such a long road trip. In all, Lewiston was called for 12 penalties, far higher than their season average, and the offense was not able to turn its speed into goals like in recent games.

“It’s been a long trip,” Durocher said. “I wasn’t asking them to play a big game, just a smart one, and we didn’t do that. I think all of the goals came because of turnovers.”

Gatineau got the puck rolling from the beginning of the game, outshooting the Maineiacs 15-4 in the opening period and forcing some uncharacteristic Lewiston penalties. Thanks in part to those penalties, and to some solid offensive work, Gatineau also scored three goals in the opening frame.

Dominic D’Amour picked up the first goal at 3:47 on a slap shot from the right point. D’Amour took a errant clear by Karl Fournier at the blue line, faked a shot and moved into the high slot before firing the shot low to Lewiston netminder Matt Davis’ stick side.

Doug O’Brien capitalized on a member’s bounce at the 9:48 mark of the first when a wild shot from the right boards deflected off of Travis Mealy’s skate in front and crossed the goal line past a confused Davis for the 2-0 lead, and Jean-Michel Daoust made it 3-0 on a slap shot from the point while Gatineau skated with a man advantage at 18:12.

Doust ignited the crowd again in the second period, notching two more goals in another three-goal period for the Olympiques.

His second of the game came just 47 seconds into the second frame and gave Gatineau a 4-0 lead after a Travis Mealy dump-in attempt hit Alexandre Picard in the face and ricocheted to Daoust. Daoust fired the puck high to the glove side on Davis.

Lewiston caught a break at 2:10 and scored its first goal of the game when Mathieu Aubin banged home a Vladislav Balaz rebound to pull Lewiston to within three at 4-1.

Daoust capped the hat trick at 3:17, slipping Gatineau’s fifth goal in 18 shots past Davis, driving the Lewiston netminder from the net. Brandon Verge finished the game in goal.

Guillaume Labrecque notched a goal at 6:10 to push the lead to 6-1.

Maxime Robert added the Maineiacs’ second goal at 17:29 of the second when, sprung on a breakaway, he beat Gatineau netminder David Tremblay with a wrister.

In the third, Lewiston had an early power play, but still could not generate any offense, getting just one shot on goal in the final frame. The defense did, however, buckle down, allowing just eight shots to reach Verge.

“We can take out of here that we tied the third period,” Durocher said. They played very quickly in the first and second, and they slowed it down in the third, more to our speed. Now, we look forward and put this one behind us like it never happened.”

Lewiston will skate twice with Quebec in the coming week, once at home on Thursday and again in Quebec on Friday before heading to Shawinigan next Sunday.

NOTES: Marc-Andre Cliche did not dress on Sunday due to an injury sustained in the game against Rouyn-Noranda on Saturday. While taking a faceoff in his own zone, Cliche caught a high stick from the Huskies’ center. The cut just above his lip required stitches…Mathieu Aubin returned to the lineup on Sunday after missing Friday and Saturday for personal reasons…Kevin Turgeon continues to suffer from post-concussion syndrome and did not dress all weekend…Richard Stehlik did not play on Sunday after sustaining an injury in Saturday’s game against Rouyn-Noranda. Chad Denny, who had not dressed in either of the first two games, took Stehlik’s place.

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