LEWISTON – Things were just different Saturday. There was more hitting, yet less from the Lewiston Maineiacs. There were fewer goals scored, yet more from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Lewiston changed its goaltender, and Baie-Comeau made a roster adjustment on the forward lines. Most importantly, the Maineiacs defensemen were a lot less sure with the puck, and the turnovers generated by a persistent Baie-Comeau forward corps decided the game.
Jean-Francois Jacques batted home a rebound after Jonathan Duchesneau hit the crossbar on a breakaway to tie the game at 6:42 of the third and Francois Bouchard pounded in a rebound at 17:59 to lift the Drakkar to a 4-3 win over Lewiston.
The loss is the Maineiacs’ first loss at home since December 10th, and their first loss overall since December 28th.
“It finally came to an end,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “It all came down to being responsible for your position on the ice and making the right decisions. On the other side, we had some good scoring chances, too. It was like a wall around the net in the third period.”
Rookie Sebastien Piche rang a shot off the left pipe with less than two minutes to play that would have knotted the score. Earlier in the period, the Maineiacs enjoyed three shortened power play opportunities, and squandered those chances, too. Perhaps the best chance in the third, though, came early, with the Maineiacs still leading 3-2. Alex Bourret made a solid play in front to muscle the Baie-Comeau defense into the left corner, and also managed to flick the puck on net. Drakkar netminder Loic Lacasse made the save, but was badly out of position, and the puck ricocheted onto Alexandre Picard’s stick in the middle of the slot. Picard had the entire net open and clanged the puck off the right post.
“(Lacasse) showed a lot of character tonight,” said Baie-Comeau coach Eric Dubois of his goaltender. “He had a rough night Friday night, and he played early (Saturday) like he did Friday, but he came out and made a lot of good stops in the third.”
But even bigger than Lacasse’s 33 saves was the pressure the Drakkar put on the Maineiacs’ defensemen that forced at least three turnovers that resulted in goals.
“Our players, we had a tendency to cheat high, to play the puck first high in the zone,” said Dubois. “We had them take the body tonight and put pressure on the defense, and that worked.”
After Jonathan Paiement walked in on the Maineiacs’ first power play of the game and scored short side, he nonchalantly turned the puck over at the Baie-Comeau blue line, giving the Drakkar a scoring chance.
They did not miss, and Pierre-Luc Leblond-Letourneau tied the score at one.
Nicolas Robillard scored his third goal of the weekend at 11:34 of the opening frame to give Baie-Comeau a 2-1 lead heading into the first break.
Lewiston came back strong in the second with goals by Derek Bailey at 7:59 and Nick Cowan at 16:17, both coming on backhand pokes on bouncing rebounds. Also in the second, though, Maineiacs’ forward Marc-Andre Cliche was hit hard but clean by a Ryan Hand hip check. Hand is already despised by many Maineiac fans for punching former player Kevin Turgeon in the head during last year’s brawl. Cliche, according to Jodoin, is “very bad.”
Lewiston has the next two days off completely before resuming practice on Tuesday, and will travel to Baie-Comeau and Chicoutimi next weekend.
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