LEWISTON – Consider Saturday night a wakeup call to the rest of Maine Class A hockey. The St. Dom’s Saints are for real.

A stalwart Saints’ defensive corps held Lewiston’s forwards to just 22 shots, and six different skaters scored goals to lead St. Dom’s to a commanding 6-2 win over the rival Blue Devils in front of an estimated crowd of 1,200 fans at the Colisee in the teams’ first league meeting of the season.

The win lifted the Saints’ perfect record to 6-0, while Lewiston dropped its first contest of the season and are now 5-1.

“We were too inconsistent,” said Lewiston coach Tim Smith. “They didn’t give us a chance to get going (in their end) all night. They are a good hockey team, and they showed that.”

Despite the high number of shots St. Dom’s fired at Lewiston netminder Nick Langlais 42 saves), the Saints’ defense was the biggest factor in the lopsided win, holding Lewiston to just one goal and keeping most of the shots to the outside.

“Our defense rose to the occasion and played very strong,” said St. Dom’s coach Bob Boucher. “They are the most experienced part of the team this year, and we count on them to make big plays for us.”

“They tried to cycle in on us,” said Saints’ defender Mike Carpenter. “We stepped up early, though, and hit them at the blue line and were able to control them.”

The St. Dom’s offense did hold up its end of the bargain, though, with steady pressure and a lopsided amount of time inside the Lewiston zone. In all, the Saints spent more than 65 percent of the game inside the Blue Devils’ zone, and sent a barrage of 47 shots in on Langlais.

“We got scoring from all three lines and from our defensemen,” said Boucher. “We have a balanced attack, and things are looking good.”

Every time it seemed that Lewiston was able to counter with some offensive pressure, the Saints’ defense was there to break up the play. Even on Lewiston’s first goal, at 10:27 of the middle period, a pass across first hit a defenseman’s stick before reaching its destination.

Lewiston fired out of the gate in the first three minutes of play and managed two shots on Blackman in that span. That was half of the Blue Devils’ period total.

The Saints, meanwhile, doiminated the opening frame, spending more than 75 percent of the period in the Lewiston end, despite allowing Lewiston a 5-on-3 power play in the final two minutes of play.

The Saints also opened the scoring early, converting on their own 5-on-3 advantage at 8:33 when Jon Rutt took a pass at the left half-board from Ryan Guerin, who played forward on the power play. Rutt surveyed the ice as he curled to the center of the high slot and, seeing no open passing lanes, sent a change-up backhander in on Langlais. The Lewiston keeper reacted too quickly and over-slid, allowing the puck to sneak past him between the pads for a 1-0 St. Dom’s lead.

In the second, the Saints seized the game, and the win, with four more scores to take a 5-1 lead.

Dan Bulick started the avalanche at 1:41 with a goal on a rebound in front of the net. Dylan Nadeau followed three minutes later on another rebound, this time on an original shot by Nadeau.

Lewiston answered at 10:27 when Ian Doucette swept home a pass first slowed by a defenseman’s stick, throwing St. Dom’s netminder Brady Blackman off his mark.

“I thought we showed some signs of playing well,” said Smith, “but it wasn’t a consistent effort. When we made it 3-1 we were playing well. We played well at times, but not often.”

The Saints countered with two more, though, from Matt Manson on a blast from the left point and from Tom Gosselin on breakaway feed from Jon Rutt.

“I saw the puck come out to (Carpenter) on the point, so I moved over to some free space,” said Manson of his goal. “I know (Langlais) goes down, so I shot high. That was a big goal for us. It gave us back the momentum.”

In the third, St. Dom’s dominated early, firing eight shots at Langlais before Lewiston managed one on Blackman. Lewiston scored on that shot, though, at 5:56 of the period, to temporarily give the Blue Devils hope, and play stayed in the Saints’ end for much of a two-minute power play midway through the period.

The St. Dom’s defense proved too tough, though, and Blackman saved three solid chances in the final seven minutes, while Kevin LaPlante found the back of the net at 10:42 of the final frame to cap the scoring.

“The good thing is, we have 14 more games to get ready for the playoffs,” said Smith. “I’m just glad that they are playing in the West for the the playoffs.”