LEWISTON – With another home win firmly in their grasp and with the Quebec Remparts on the ropes, the Lewiston Maineiacs committed a gaffe so bad it will likely leave a sour taste on coach Clem Jodoin’s palate long after he brushes his teeth and goes to bed next Wednesday.

Remparts forwards Max Gratchev, Jordan LaVallee and Simon Courcelles made the Maineiacs’ defensemen look like orange practice pylons for the final eight minutes Wednesday, scoring four goals in that span to give Quebec and goaltender Maxime Joyal a come-from-behind 6-3 win over Lewiston.

It was the third straight loss for the Maineiacs, but just the second at the Colisee this year.

“All of a sudden, we just didn’t play smart,” said Jodoin. “We had the game. With seven minutes to go, all we had to do was play smart, and we played dumb.”

In the team’s three previous games, Jodoin had given praise to the defense’s ability to play better every night, and Wednesday was shaping up to be another in a line of solid defensive outings – until the clock struck 7:56.

“The thing is, we did play well defensively,” said Jodoin. “Right up until that point. I just have no answers.”

On the other side, Joyal (31 saves) made the most of his first opportunity against his former club.

“We went ahead 2-0 early,” said Quebec coach Eric Lavigne, “but that was because of Joyal. When (Jean-Michel) Filiatrault went down with an injury, Joyal stepped in. He has played 10 in a row now and looked very comfortable. He played very well tonight and is the reason we stayed in this game.”

Joyal started training camp with the Maineiacs and was traded to Quebec for the rights to forward Derek Bailey. After making the Remparts’ roster, Joyal quickly became the team’s No. 1 after Filiatrault went down with a groin injury.

Quebec traded Filiatrault to Rimouski on Tuesday, leaving Joyal as the only experienced goaltender on the Remparts’ roster.

“It was nice to come back a little bit,” said Joyal. “I have nothing bad against Lewiston, especially because they gave me my first opportunity and kept me on the roster. My second, too, by trading me instead of sending me back to Triple-A, and giving me this chance.”

As for the game, Joyal was pleased, if not a bit tired.

“There were some shots in the first, those were hard,” said Joyal, who counted a stop on an Alex Bourret breakaway among his 14 first-period stops. “When we scored the goals it was a little easier. After the second period, we were not nervous tied at 2-2, but then they scored to go up 3-2 and I was nervous then.”

Joyal’s new mates picked him up from there, though, starting with LaVallee’s shot to the top left corner, over Lewiston netminder Jaroslav Halak’s blocker, on a 2-on-1.

Gratchev broke the 3-3 tie just 1:07 later when he banged home a rebound on a Josh Hennessy shot from in close. Hennessy was free in the first place after slipping the puck through Jonathan Paiement’s legs in the right corner.

Courcelles added his second and third goals of the game at 15:57 and 17:12 to cap the scoring. On Courcelles’ second of the game, Gennady Churilov faked Travis Mealy so badly that the Maineiacs defender fell to the ice, leaving Churilov and Courcelles alone on a 2-on-0.

“We took advantage of our opportunities when they gave them to us,” said Lavigne. “That is how we won this game.”

Quebec took a 1-0 lead into the locker room after the first period on a Kevin Coughlin goal, and increased that lead to 2-0 early in the second on Courcelles’ first of the game.

Nick Cowan and Alexandre Picard each potted goals in the second to knot the score, and Cowan put the Maineiacs ahead 3-2 at 9:17 of the third before the Remparts exploded for the next four.

Lewiston plays its next four games on the road, starting Friday in Rimouski before heading to Quebec for a rematch on Sunday.