There was no offensive explosion, nor was there a stellar goaltending performance.

The win, though, now that was nice.

Eric Castonguay snapped a scoreless tie with a power play goal at 8:27 of the second period and Alexandre Picard potted an empty-netter with less than 15 seconds to play as the Lewiston Maineiacs skated past Victoriaville 2-0 at the Colisee des Bois-Francs Sunday in front of 1,927 fans.

“We’re pretty happy to get the two points,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding, “but it was not a pretty hockey game. I think we can play a bit smarter than what we did. One good thing from this game, though, is that we need to learn how to protect a late one-goal lead, and we did that with a few exceptions tonight.”

The win lifts Lewiston to 13-16-6-0 after 35 games of their 70 games this season, giving the Maineiacs 32 points at the midway point of the season. Last year, through 35 games, Lewiston was 14-19-1-1 with 30 points.

“We’re not about making excuses here,” said Harding, “but I think we all know how different this team is without all of the injuries.”

For a battered defense, though, the Maineiacs held on well, allowing just 17 shots to reach Jaroslav Halak, who posted his second shutout of the season.

“Most of their shots were kept to the outside,” said Harding. “The defense pinched well in the neutral zone and forced Victoriaville to dump and chase a lot. With Halak back there, who likes to play the puck, it made it a little easier.”

Eric Castonguay, meanwhile, continued his recent hot streak that seemed to start with his overtime winner against Moncton on November 28. Since scoring that goal, the 17-year-old rookie has four of his 11 goals this season and always seems to be in the right place at the right time.

“(Castonguay) is a solid offensive player and he certainly has a nose for the net,” said Harding.

After a penalty-filled first period and an equally rough opening to the second, Castonguay snuck a shot past Victoriaville netminder Josh Tordjman with help from Jonathan Paiement to give the Maineiacs all the offense they would need.

After two rough periods, tempers calmed in the third, and Picard added the empty-netter with assists from Paiement and Alex Bourret to seal the win.

Lewiston returns to the ice Tuesday to square off against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, coached by former Maineiacs’ skipper Mario Durocher.