After battling one of the better teams in the league to a 3-3 tie on Friday in their debut, the Lewiston Maineiacs took a day off on Saturday to repair some bumps and bruises to get ready for another tough road contest in Moncton today.

“It was a very good game for us on Friday,” said coach Clem Jodoin. “You look at the Halifax lineup and they have 12 players taken by an NHL team in the draft. We stood up to them, we were creative, and when we gave up a bad goal and went down 3-2, we came right back and got one to tie it again.

“This was a very good first game, and it could have gone either way.”

One of the biggest things Jodoin cited on Saturday as a factor was the element of surprise.

“We are probably the most unknown team in the league right now,” said Jodoin. “Nobody knows what we have, really.

“There are many things we still need to work on, to improve on, but if we play determined like we did on Friday, I will be happy.”

The Maineiacs’ opponent today is Moncton, a team that has won three times and returns several players that made it to the President’s Cup finals last year, including No. 1 goaltender Corey Crawford.

“They are a veteran team, Moncton,” said Jodoin. “They are a good, experienced hockey team with a solid goaltender, but the game is played on the ice, and I think we can build from what we did (Friday) night. We were on the puck, we played with intensity.”

Leading the Wildcats is Steve Bernier, who has five goals and three assists for eight points in four games.

Rookie Adam Pineault, who last year played for the Boston College Eagles of Hockey East, is third on the team with five points. Nathan Saunders leads the team in penalty minutes, having racked up 31 already in just four games.

For Lewiston, Alex Bourret scored two points in Friday’s tie, giving him the early team lead, while Maxime Mathieu, Jonathan Paiement, Marc-Andre Cliche, Alexandre Picard and Sheldon Wenzel each tallied one.