LEWISTON – The expression on the face of Andre Tourigny said it all.

When the Rouyn-Noranda coach was asked about his team’s opening period Sunday afternoon, the pained look on his face and his rolled eyes summed up his perspective better than his thick-accented English ever could.

“It was tough after,” the Huskies coach said of Lewiston’s quick 2-0 lead. “When you have the lead, you can send in the forecheck and have two defensemen back to seal off the neutral zone. It’s very important for us to get the momentum.”

Facing elimination Sunday, it was more critical for the Lewiston Maineiacs to lay down the gauntlet, and that desperation showed. Trying to force a decisive Game 7, Lewiston’s produced one of its best periods of the series and staked a 2-0 lead.

It set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and had the Maineiacs warming up the bus for a return trip to Rouyn-Noranda for the series finale Tuesday.

“We started stronger,” said defenseman Jonathan Paiement. “We were clearly the better team skating than the other team. That’s the kind of start that we needed.”

Lewiston scored twice in the first 5:16 and seized the early lead for just the second time in the series. Other than the win in Game 2, the Maineiacs have had to come from behind in every game.

From there, Lewiston played well with the lead. Other than two late Rouyn-Noranda goals with the netminder pulled in the final minute, the Maineiacs were in command throughout. Lewiston established the lead early and hardly wavered.

“I think it gives confidence to everybody,” said Lewiston coach Mario Durocher, whose team outshot the Huskies 7-0 to start and 12-3 up until the closing minutes of the period. “I thought we played three good periods. We didn’t give them too many chances to score.”

Rouyn-Noranda didn’t get its first shot until midway through the period. Then a flurry of chances late in the period helped pad its shot total.

“We just wanted to play the same game we played Friday,” said Durocher. “The kids have played well all year long defensively. The last two games we didn’t give them any breaks. They had to work for the goals. We didn’t give them hard rushes, the three-on-twos and the two-on-ones.”

While Lewiston was sound defensively, it still produced at the other end. A Karl Fournier goal 3:43 into the game put the Maineiacs in the driver’s seat. Then a Rouyn-Noranda slashing penalty on Alexandre Bolduc enabled Lewiston to maintain the pressure and put the Huskies into a deeper hole.

Alex Bourret scored on the power play at 5:16 and the Maineiacs were in command before the Huskies could even muster their first shot.

“The start, we were a little bit soft in the one-on-one battles, and we took a bad penalty, too,” said Tourigny.

In a battle of road weary teams, Lewiston looked to be the fresher of the two and made it count. Despite using just five defensemen, the Maineiacs controlled play and were the quicker squad, forcing the Huskies to do the chasing. Rouyn-Noranda finished with 19 shots on goal overall, nearly half its total from the last game.

“It’s a good thing that we’re in good shape,” said Durocher. “All that we did at the beginning of the training camp, all that stuff paid off. It’s not an easy schedule. It’s a crazy schedule. It’s not human to make us travel and play like this. Details like that can make the difference.”

kmills@sunjournal.com

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