LEWISTON – It’s not a secret that Maineiacs majority owner Mark Just likes passionate hockey players. He says as much every time he has a chance.

“Heart,” Just says. “I like the kids to show some heart, some passion for the game.”

Perhaps his visit to the Lewiston locker room prior to Friday night’s game inspired the Maineiacs, if not to shoot the puck often, certainly to make the most of their opportunities and to play with grit.

Lewiston overcame five penalty kills in the first 20 minutes of play and scored on three of its first four shots to upend Gatineau 5-1 in front of 2,546 fans at the Colisee on Friday night, extending its season-opening home winning streak to three games, and upping its overall record to 4-3-3.

“The best thing about this win is that we did well with the PK’s and the power plays,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “With the numbers we put up on the PK (10 of 11 killed) and on the power play (2 of 7 resulted in goals), we are now in the top five in the league in both. That is key for us, because we play very well 5-on-5.”

Gatineau and Lewiston combined for 137 minutes in penalties on the night, many of which came in the first period that took more than one full hour to complete.

“I have never seen so much slashing out there,” said Jodoin. “I don’t mind a lot of good, hard body checking, but playing a lot with their sticks, that stinks.”

Despite playing much of the first period with a manpower advantage and outshooting the Maineiacs 16-6, Gatineau trailed 3-1 after the first period, thanks in large part to Maineiacs’ netminder Jaroslav Halak (32 saves).

“I was busy in the first period,” said Halak. “They had lots of shots on me early in the game, but I was able to stop those O.K. Their only goal came when it was 5-on-3, so I am not too upset.”

Riding the momentum of a hat trick on Wednesday night, Alexandre Picard put the Maineiacs ahead just 1:53 into the game with the first of his two goals.

“Once I got the first one, it seems so much easier now,” said Picard, who had gone eight games without a goal to start the season and is now second on the team with five.

On the team’s third shot of the game, Pierre-Luc Champagne notched the first goal of his QMJHL career on a Colby Gilbert rebound, and 20 seconds later Chad Denny rifled a shot from the left point to put the home team up by three.

“We just did not play well tonight,” said Gatineau assistant coach Mario Richer, speaking in place of head coach Benoit Groulx. “We did not have our best game. We had chances on the power play and could not put the puck in the net. The difference in that period was goaltending.”

Gatineau did get on the board before the end of the period when Petr Pohl banged a rebound home while the Olympiques enjoyed a 5-on-3 power play.

In the second, neither team managed any significant offensive threat, but the Maineiacs did manage to pull closer in the shot column, and in the third, Picard added his second of the night and Jonathan Paiement notched his third of the season to cap the scoring.

Notes: Alexandre Picard fought midway through the first period against Gatineau’s Scott Brophy and went to the locker room after getting a five minute major and a 10 minute misconduct. As the period wound down, he stood in the doorway with a large ice pack on his hand, but returned in the second and third periods and was feeling well after the game…Colby Gilbert fought for the first time in his QMJHL career on Friday night, and had the fat lip to prove it. Afterwards, he was in good spirits and said that he “loved it,” saying he would be good to go in the next game…Halak has now played in seven games and has a .933 save percentage and a 3-1-2 record.