Richard Stehlik rifles the puck into the net at 1:24 of the extra session to rescue Lewiston.
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

LEWISTON – The red light went on for Vladislav Balaz. Richard Stehlik then fired a brutal slap shot from the center of the slot that nearly tore a hole in the twine. The public address announcer said Marc-Andre Cliche’s name.

None of the three players cared who officially scored the last goal of the game, though. All that mattered was that it counted.

Stehlik was eventually credited with a goal 1:24 into overtime with passes from Cliche and Balaz to lift the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 3-2 victory over the Shawinigan Cataractes in front of 2,111 at the Central Maine Civic Center on Sunday.

“I think we played a heck of a game,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “That was a big win for us. We didn’t give them any good chances to score for most of the game, and they didn’t quit.”

The overtime goal came on a power play, the Maineiacs second of the night. With Jonathan Jolette in the box for high-sticking, the Maineiacs set up in the Shawinigan zone for the 4-on-3 advantage. Cliche took the puck away from a Shawinigan defender in the right circle and sent the shot toward the net, missing wide right.

Balaz took the shot off the back boards on the left side and fired a one-timer into the padding just inside the right goal post. The red light came on to signal a goal, but the on-ice official waved it off. The puck, meanwhile, came out to Stehlik, who had crept in from the right point to the middle of the slot. Stehlik fired a slap shot into the back of the net while the Shawinigan players stood around, thinking that Balaz’s shot had in fact gone in.

“It went in the first time,” Balaz said. “But it is still Richard’s goal all the way. It came to me. I don’t think anyone saw the ref one way or another, so he made sure.”

“I saw the goalie was out of the net, so I just wanted to make sure it hit the net,” Stehlik said.

The teams battled to a scoreless tie through two periods thanks largely to Cataractes’ netminder Julien Ellis. Through two periods, Lewiston outshot Shawinigan 19-8. Maineiacs goalie Matt Davis caught a break when Simon-Pierre Sauve shot a penalty shot wide right at 16:30 of the second period.

“As a goalie, with so few shots, you train yourself to stay focused,” Davis said. “This was an important win, though. It helps us feel good again, gives us a taste of what it’s like to win.”

Shawinigan went ahead at 3:14 of the third when Jonathan Boutin slapped home a rebound from the right post. Lewiston retaliated with a power play goal at 14:52 to knot the score at 1-1, thanks to an Alex Bourret goal on a rebound. Boutin scored again at 16:01 on a goal identical to their first, and Bourret made two incredible moves, eventually slipping the puck short side on Ellis from behind the net at 17:33 to tie it at 2-2.

By the end of the game, two notable players were missing from the ice. Karl Fournier left the game in the second after aggravating a knee injury that sidelined him for several games earlier in the season, and Alexandre Picard of Lewiston sat the final four minutes of regulation and all of overtime due to a coaches decision.

“I think the two goals they scored were both because Picard didn’t play well in his defensive zone,” Durocher said. “So he sat down.”

Lewiston has three games this week, including a Wednesday rematch with Quebec, and games against Rouyn-Noranda and Chicoutimi on Friday and Saturday.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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