LEWISTON – Three years ago, Messalonskee was a mediocre Class B program. A new coach and a new class seems to have changed all of that, and on Wednesday, they served notice that this year they will be a force with which to reckon in Eastern Class A, and gave Lewiston all it could handle.

Still, the Blue Devils managed to eke out a win.

Adam Wilding scored when a puck thrown to the middle by Brian Ricker bounced off of his skate and eluded Messalonskee netminder Mike Hachey, clanking in off the left post. The goal broke a 1-1 third-period deadlock and lifted Lewiston to a 2-1 win over Messalonskee at the Colisee.

“We were lucky to get the win tonight,” said Lewiston coach Tim Smith. “Messalonskee is a very good hockey team and they came out hard like we expected them to. We took some penalties at the wrong times and it almost cost us.”

Nick Langlais made 39 saves to preserve the Lewiston win, stopping two clean breakaways and several other shots late in the third while his team tried to kill off a full two-minute 5-on-3 Messalonskee power play.

“That was nerve-wracking,” said Langlais. “All I could do was try and stop the puck. The post is my friend, that’s for sure.”

In the final five minutes, the Eagles hit the post behind Langlais three times.

“As long as it doesn’t bounce in, that’s alright with me,” said Langlais.

“He made the difference for them tonight,” said Messalonskee coach and former University of Maine standout Mike Latendresse. “They are a team that is used to winning, and we had to bury our opportunities on offense, and we couldn’t. Langlais made some big saves.”

Neither team could solve their opponents’ goaltender in the opening frame, with Messalonskee enjoying the upper hand in offensive-zone possession and in shots, 16-5.

Lewiston (4-0) was back on its heels early, and Langlais had to make several tough saves to keep the Blue Devils in the game.

The shots evened out in the second, and the scoring followed suit. Lewiston took a 1-0 lead just 38 seconds into the frame on a Travis Lebrun turn-around shot from the middle of the slot.

The Eagles (2-3) evened the score at 4:18 when Ted Fabian emerged from a scrum at the right half-boards, walked in on Langlais and lifted a soft backhander to the top left shelf. The puck hit Langlais and squirted underneath his right arm, bouncing into the cage.

“That was a big goal for us,” said Latendresse. “You could feel like they were going to get the momentum after they went up 1-0, and we needed to turn around and get one.”

Wilding’s winner came at 4:25 of the third.

“That went right off my skate,” said Wilding. “I didn’t do it on purpose, but I was crashing the net and the puck came to the middle. Somehow it got into the net.”

Messalonskee outshot Lewiston 17-3 in the final frame, but Langlais held tough.

“He was the best player on the ice tonight,” said Smith. “We put ourselves in an unfortunate situation with those two late penalties and he came up big for us there. We’ll take whatever wins we can.”