Rouyn-Noranda goalie Mathieu Poitras turns aside 53 Lewiston shots in a 2-2 tie.
LEWISTON – The drive from Rouyn-Noranda alone should probably have been worth a goal or two in the Maineiacs’ favor. Add in a third game in three nights and you have a recipe for a hometown blowout, right?
Not with Mathieu Poitras in the net.
Poitras made 53 saves, including five in overtime, helping the Huskies hang on for a 2-2 tie with the Lewiston Maineiacs in front of 2,143 at the Central Maine Civic Center on Friday.
Mathieu Aubin and Jonathan Paiement had goals for Lewiston, while Yannick Tifu and Brent Aubin scored for Rouyn-Noranda.
“I think we played well the last two periods,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “We paid for our bad start tonight. We thought it might be easy, with them on their third game in three nights, but they came out and jumped on us early.”
“We had seven of those three-games-in-three-nights this year,” Huskies’ coach André Tourigny said. “This is just the second time we get a point in the last game, so we are happy with that at least.”
Despite being outshot 47-7 over the final two periods and overtime, Rouyn-Noranda allowed only the two goals.
“If we play like we did in the second and third periods in all three periods, we will win a lot of hockey games,” Durocher said. “Poitras played very well tonight. Those are the kinds of games at the beginning of the season that we would have lost. At least we got the point.”
Rouyn-Noranda’s first goal came at 9:01 of the first period, and appeared to be kicked in by Tifu.
“It hit him in either the skate or the shin,” Maineiacs goaltender Matt Davis said. “As a goalie, you slide to the stick of the player. I did that, and the puck bounced up and over me.”
On the second Rouyn-Noranda goal, Davis wasn’t able to squeeze his arm quick enough on a shot off of a defensive zone faceoff, making the score 2-0.
“That was a bad goal,” Davis admitted. “I saw it all the way, I just didn’t close it in time.”
Paiement brought the Maineiacs back within one at 17:54 of the second on a shot from the right point that found its way through traffic in front with Lewiston on a 5-on-3 power play.
Aubin notched the equalizer at 5:33 of the third after Kevin Turgeon forechecked on a puck controlled by Poitras. Turgeon snagged the puck away from Poitras and slid the puck back in front between the goaltender’s legs to Aubin. Aubin whiffed on the shot, but it trickled past Poitras anyway for the goal.
Lewiston return to home ice Saturday night to face division rival Chicoutimi, which also played to a tie Friday.
NOTES: Marc-Andre Cliche skated in warm-ups on Friday, but was a game-time scratch. He is still feeling the effects of a severe charlie horse suffered on Wednesday against Quebec…Mathieu Aubin will more than likely play in Saturday’s game after leaving Friday’s contest with a laceration to his chin. After the game, Aubin had several stitches across his jaw-line…Max Robert and Karl Fournier will be unavailable for the game on Saturday. Both players continue to recover from more severe injuries.
jpelletier@sunjournal.com
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