HALIFAX, Novia Scotia – So far so good for the Lewiston Maineiacs.

Led by scoring from two lines and their top returning defenseman, the Maineiacs skated to a season-opening 3-3 tie with the Halifax Mooseheads at the Metro Centre on Friday, spoiling the home team’s opener in front of 7,092 fans.

The Halifax Mooseheads have now played three games this season and have battled to a draw in all three.

“We know it’s going to come,” said Halifax right wing Rane Carnegie. “We’re doing a lot of things right, but we just need to correct a few fundamental errors that we’re making out there and capitalize on a few more chances.”

The Mooseheads and Maineiacs traded goals all night, with each side taking its turn with the lead.

Marc-Andre Bernier, Francois-Pierre Guenette and Daniel Sparre were the Halifax goal scorers, while Maxime Mathieu, Alex Bourret and Jonathan Paiement answered for Lewiston.

Bernier’s goal was significant because it came against his younger brother Jonathan, who got the start in Lewiston’s first game of the season.

As a 16-year-old rookie, Jonathan probably wouldn’t have started, but the Maineiacs had no choice after Slovakian Jaroslav Halak ran into visa delays that prevented him from leaving the United States this weekend.

“They told me a week ago that our other goalie (Halak) couldn’t come to Canada yet because of his visa so I have been preparing for this since then,” said Jonathan Bernier. “I’m supposed to play three games in a row this weekend so that’s going to be really good for me. It will get me used to the league faster.”

Marc-Andre delivered when he scored Halifax’s first goal at 15:39 of the first period. The Mooseheads right wing then made a point of needling his little brother later in the game.

“After the first period I said Welcome to the league bro,'” Marc-Andre said. “It was kind of comical and we had some fun with it.”

Current Maineiac coach and former Halifax head coach and general manager Clem Jodoin was coaching his first game since leaving the Mooseheads at the end of the 1996-97 season.

Surprisingly, the Mooseheads made no mention of his presence, but that didn’t matter to the good-natured Jodoin.

“Oh no, I’m the enemy,” he said with a laugh. “They did a good job with the ceremonies and the focus had to be on them. I’m glad for that.”

For the most part, Jodoin was just happy that his players could finally get their first game of the season under their belts. Most teams have played two or three times already this season.

“It was nice for me to break the ice after seven years of not being a head coach, but I was a little bit worried about my team in the sense that we haven’t played in two weeks,” Jodoin said.

“Game shape and game pace are not the same as just practicing. I was thinking a lot about that and I was also thinking about my young 16-year-old goalie. But he did a good job. It was very important for him to play well tonight to build his confidence and feel like he can do the job.”

Prior to Marc-Andre Bernier’s goal in the first, Maxime Mathieu scored on a pass from Sheldon Wenzel to give the Maineiacs a 1-0 lead.

Just 25 seconds into the second, Bourret again put Lewiston ahead with a goal on a feed from Alexandre Picard, but the Maineiacs again squandered the lead, allowing two straight goals. The first came off the stick of Guenette, and the second off of Daniel Sparre, giving the Mooseheads a 3-2 lead.

Jonathan Paiement added a power play goal at the halfway mark of the second to knot the score, and the goaltenders took over from there, making a combined 21 saves in the third period and overtime to preserve the tie.

Lewiston will again skate in the Maritimes on Sunday in an afternoon tilt with the Moncton Wildcats.