Vladislav Balaz continued on his torrid streak with a goal and two assists, while Alexandre Picard, Francis Trudel, Alex Bourret, Richard Stehlik and Karl Fournier all had two points to lead Lewiston to a 6-1 win over Baie-Comeau in front of 2,404 fans at the Center Henry-Leonard.

“I think we just played smarter than they did all game,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “Our power play did a good job (4 of 7) and we used our speed against them. After the last game against them, and in this building, this was perfect.”

The win is the Maineiacs’ third straight and fifth in six games, and moves Lewiston into second place in the Eastern Division. The win, combined with a Rimouski loss, also moves the Maineiacs within two points of the Oceanic for the division lead with four games left to play.

“The big test starts (Sunday),” Durocher said. “It’s playoff time. We don’t play well at Chicoutimi, so it will be a good test.”

After a tight-checking pair of periods to open the game, in which the Maineiacs scored twice (Picard and Fournier), and in which officials called just five minor penalties and broke up one fight, the offense, and the tempers, exploded in the third.

“We dominated the first two period, even though it was close on the scoreboard,” Durocher said. “And then they started to play stupid.”

Bourret and Mathieu Aubin scored less than a minute apart at the seven minute mark of the final frame to pull the Maineiacs ahead. Balaz added a short-handed goal at 13:03, giving the Maineiacs an insurmountable 5-0 lead. Thirteen seconds later, Baie-Comeau struck for its only goal, and tempers started to flare. Stehlik was called for a match penalty and was thrown out of the game for retaliating after he was cross-checked in the head from behind by Martin Mandeville, who had just scored the goal.

“He lost his head after getting hit,” Durocher said. “He will be out (Sunday).”

Then, at 17:19, two Baie-Comeau players, Ryan Hand and Pierre-Luc Leblond-Letourneau, were also assessed match penalties without a single penalty, minor or otherwise, called on the Maineiacs.

“They got those for going after our guys,” Durocher said. “They will not play their next game, and I don’t know if they will get any other games, so they might not play on Friday at Lewiston, either.”

On the ensuing power play, Trudel notched his eighth of the year to round out the scoring.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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