Even without their leading scoring forward, the Lewiston Maineiacs found a way to get the puck into the net and salvaged a tough tie with Rouyn-Noranda Friday night, battling with the Huskies to a 2-2 deadlock at the Dave Keon Arena in front of just 1,972 fans,

“It was a good night,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “The players all worked very hard. They showed their colors, and some of them will have colors on them for a while, too.”

In a rough game, an already depleted Maineiacs’ squad suffered two more blows when Brandon Roach and Sheldon Wenzel went down with injuries. Marc-Andre Cliche and Derek Bailey are already out with injuries, and leading scorer Alex Bourret has one more game of a two-game suspension to serve.

“We still have two more players to bring in, so we will not call anyone up yet,” said Jodoin.

On Friday, Lewiston fell behind early, allowing goals to Guillaume Doucet and Dominic Deblois.

Eric Castonguay scored his first goal as a Maineiac with less than a minute to play in the second frame to pull Lewiston within one, and Jonathan Paiement fired a shot past netminder Jean-Philippe Levasseur while the team was shorthanded to even the score at 7:36 of the third period.

“For Castonguay to get his first one, that was a good thing,” said Jodoin, and Paiement’s shot was a good shot. Our defense as a whole played well tonight, and when your defense plays well, you create offensive opportunities.”

In the third, Lewiston had several opportunities to score on Levasseur, but the young goalkeeper held tough, finishing with 36 saves.

On his end, Jaroslav Halak stopped 31 pucks, including a barrage to begin the second frame that kept his team in striking distance.

“Even the fourth line did well tonight,” said Jodoin. “(Guy) Belisle, (Colby) Gilbert and (Olivier) Legault played well when they got on the ice. I had to shorten the bench in the third, and again in overtime, but all of the players played well tonight.”

Lewiston returns to action on Sunday in Val d’Or.