LEWISTON – Down 2-1 heading into the third period Wednesday, Lewiston knew that its hold on the No. 1 spot of the Eastern Class A Heal Point standings was in jeopardy.
“We knew going into that last period that we needed to win the game,” said Smith. “We didn’t care by how much, whether it was one or two or three.”
Adam Wilding took a feed from Joe Gauthier 2:21 into the final frame and slid it by Mt. Ararat netminder Jordan Martin to tie the game. Nate Gruz lofted a backhander in the general direction of the net while trying to keep the puck in the zone. It hit the pipe behind a confused Martin and fell into the cage at 6:45 to give the Blue Devils the lead, and Brandon Girardin scored his second of the game from center ice into an empty net with 29 ticks left to seal a 4-2 win for the home team.
“We knew that they were going to come ready to play,” said Smith. “We came out and matched them in the first, even outplayed them despite the score being 1-1, but I think we slacked off a bit in the second.”
Mt. Ararat, meanwhile, came within inches of taking its own lead or at least tying the game late in the third.
“We had our chances and just couldn’t finish on them,” said Mt. Ararat coach Mike Abreu. “All season our goal is to play each game a bit better than the last one.”
The Eagles (3-10) played a late game against Cony on Tuesday night and last played against Edward Little on Jan. 26. Both games counted in the win column.
“We’re getting there,” said Abreu. “You can see the team starting to get there. Last time we played Lewiston and lost 6-0. This time it was that much closer.”
Girardin put the Blue Devils (10-4) ahead 1-0, converting a feed from Danny Cloutier into a goal to put Lewiston ahead just 3:05 into the game. Jordan Bichrest knotted the score at 14:35, tipping a pass from Drew Erickson past Lewiston netminder Nick Langlais.
In the second, Bichrest struck again at seven minutes, this time knocking home a feed from defenseman Brandon Wyman.
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