Given a chance to fix the recent Lewiston Maineiacs’ free-fall from seventh to 12th in the league standings, most people wouldn’t choose a game against the league’s top team as the No. 1 remedy.

“It’s a commitment,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “A physical commitment. If we play physical (Friday night against Quebec), we might not win the game, but it goes from being 6-0 to 2-0 pretty easily. The players have to respect the system we are playing under.”

Moncton, one of the favorites coming into the season, is in first place overall in the QMJHL by four points (prior to Saturday night’s action). The Wildcats have allowed the fewest goals against of any team this season, and for a struggling Maineiacs offense with several key missing players, that may be a bad combination.

Moncton’s two netminders – Corey Crawford and rookie Jean-Christophe Blanchard currently sit atop the league’s goaltending rankings. Blanchard leads the league. In nine appearances, he is 4-3-1 with a 1.68 goal-against-average and a .933 save percentage, while Crawford is 16-3-1 with a 2.06 GAA and a .935 save percentage.

Offensively, the Wildcats are a bit lower in the standings, managing 96 goals in 28 games, an average of 3.43 per game. Leading the way are Steve Bernier (33 points) and Bruce Graham (30 points), while rookie Adam Pineault, who played last year for Boston College, has 29 points in 28 games, the same number as Maineiacs’ forward Alexandre Picard, who is still sidelined by an injury.

A good option

An optional practice? A day after a 6-0 blowout loss and the day before facing the top team in the league?

“I wanted to see what these guys were made of,” said Jodoin. “I wanted to see what kind of leadership we have on this team.”

And while Jodoin was conspicuously mum on whether or not there were ramifications for missing the optional 12:30 p.m. skate, very few players opted out.

“Draw your own conclusions,” said Jodoin.

Those that did not skate with the rest of the team included goaltender Jonathan Bernier, defensemen Michael Lafleur and Travis Mealy, and forwards Colby Gilbert, Derek Bailey and Mathieu Aubin.

Aubin will be out for an extended period of time after having surgery to repair an injury to his clavicle, Bernier is coming off of a two-games-in-three-nights performance during which he saw 81 shots and Mealy was at the rink working out on a bike during practice, leaving Bailey, Gilbert and Lafleur the only three skaters unaccounted for.

Promising practice

There was some encouraging news out of practice Saturday: Five of the Maineiacs’ “walking wounded” – Alexandre Picard, Nick Cowan, Chad Denny, Marc-Andre Cliche and Alex Bourret – skated a full practice with the team.

Two of the skaters – Cowan and Picard – did not participate in drills that included contact, and Denny’s shot was noticeably weaker without a full range of motion in his arm.

“Cliche has been doing well with his treatment every day,” said Jodoin. “He goes in every day and he wants to get back out there. Bourret is going to see how he feels (Saturday night) and see if he needs to rest.”

Bourret received a slash to the knee in the team’s game against PEI on Wednesday and was skating gingerly on that knee Friday, but looked better Saturday.