Two points separates the top three teams in the Eastern Division with one week left.
By Justin Pelletier
Staff Writer

If two games in two nights after a long bus ride wasn’t enough, the Maineiacs played parts of Sunday’s game with just four defensemen. Oh, and Chicoutimi has lost just six games at home all season.

Francis Lemieux and Rosario Ruggeri had a goal and an assist each and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 21 saves to lead the Chicoutimi Sagueneens past the visiting Lewiston Maineiacs 5-1 Sunday in front of 2,491 at the Centre Georges-Vezina.

The loss snapped the Maineiacs’ three-game winning streak, and halted, at least momentarily, their assault on the No. 1 spot in the Eastern division. Rimouski still leads the division with 70 points, while Chicoutimi now has 69, and the Maineiacs are stuck at 68. All three teams have three games remaining.

“This hurts, but we are still in the chase for now,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “We have to play Rimouski on Tuesday, and then Chicoutimi still has games with Moncton and Shawinigan, and Rimouski plays Cape Breton after us, so we are still there. Tonight, though, they beat us in transition. They finished their checks against our defensemen, and we gave the the middle of the ice early.”

The Maineiacs will play their final three regular-season games with some key injuries and suspensions.

Richard Stehlik was out Sunday and might miss the remainder of the regular season pending an appeal to the league. Sheldon Wenzel was assessed a match penalty on Sunday, which carries an automatic one-game suspension. Durocher indicated that Wenzel faces further punishment, pending a Cape Breton appeal from the hit he laid on Steve Bernier in Lewiston last week.

Meanwhile, Bobby Gates suffered what was called a “mild concussion” Sunday and is day-to-day. Jonathan Paiement skated during warm-ups, but is still unable to go, and both Alexandre Picard and Karl Fournier suffered injuries against Chicoutimi that caused them to miss time. Picard was hacked in the back of the legs by Nicolas Marcotte, and Fournier took a shot off of his toe.

“We will see (Monday) what the situation is, and go from there,” Durocher said.

In the first period, the short schedule and a lack of defensive depth started to creep up on the Maineiacs.

Maxime Boisclair put Chicoutimi ahead 1-0 early on a pass from Lemieux. Lewiston responded when Wenzel tipped in a Fournier feed on the period’s only power play, knotting the score at one.

Francis Verreault-Paul and Lemieux each scored within a minute of each other near the 15-minute mark to give the home team a 3-1 edge heading into the break. Both took advantage of a Maineiacs defensive lapse to put the puck past Matt Davis.

Neither team scored in a feisty second period, but there was plenty of action, and plenty of penalties. Wenzel was assessed a match penalty and Travis Mealy a major for fighting in a fray with Marcotte and Yan Gaudette. Later in the period, Alex Bourret and Boisclair had it out and were each assessed major penalties.

In the third, the Sagueneens put the game out of reach when Gaudette popped in his team’s fourth goal on passes from Stanislav Lascek and David Desharnais, and Ruggeri added another late in the third on the power play to round out the scoring.

The Maineiacs will have a day off on Monday and will play in Rimouski Tuesday before returning home for a Friday game with Baie-Comeau.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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