The Acadie-Bathurst Titan vowed revenge, and in a way got it with two fights in the first four minutes of play against Maxime Mathieu and Nick Cowan.
The Titan even took a 1-0 lead into the second period.
But the Lewiston Maineiacs showed a mettle that had been missing for some time in pulling together for two goals in the second and another pair in the third to collect a 4-2 win over Acadie-Bathurst at the K.C. Irving Center in front of a meager crowd of 2,092.
“We got our two points and we’re happy,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “To have four points already on this trip, we’re in good shape.”
The win, the Maineiacs’ second in as many nights on the road, solidifies the team’s hold on seventh place in the general standings with 63 points, just two behind division rival Quebec. The Maineiacs and the Remparts have played the same number of games – 56.
Cape Breton, meanwhile, leapfrogged Rouyn-Noranda on Saturday with a win over the Huskies, and pulled into a tie with Gatineau at 60 points, three behind the Maineiacs.
At Bathurst, the game opened with fisticuffs, and play remained rough throughout the game. It marked the second consecutive physical game for Lewiston, which travels to Rimouski today to face the red-hot Oceanic on its third game in three nights on the road.
“We are a little banged up, and now (defenseman Michal) Korenko broke his wrist,” said Harding. “It was a clean check and he tried to brace himself, so the injuries keep piling up. Now we just have to go to the hospital, deal with that, rest up and come up with a game plan for Rimouski (today).”
The Titan scored first Saturday, sliding a power-play goal past rookie netminder Jonathan Bernier (7-9-3) at 14:42 of the opening frame.
“I think all of their shots in the first came on the power play,” said Harding. “I knew 5-on-5 and 4-on-4 we could beat them, and we proved that in the second.”
Lewiston rebounded in the second, as Sheldon Wenzel potted his eighth goal of the season on a feed from Nick Cowan at 4:30 of the middle frame with the Maineiacs on the power play.
“We basically put a “no-fight” on Wenzel tonight,” said Harding. “If you know Sheldon, he wanted to go, he was basically begging, but we needed him out there as a player. I told him later in the game to go ask one of their fighters how many goals they had in the game.”
Cowan, meanwhile, added one of his own at 17:14 on a pass from Chad Denny to give Lewiston a 2-1 lead.
The Titan did not go away in the third, and in fact dominated play for much of the period. Bathurst tied the score, again notching a power-play goal at 8:01 of the third. Again it was Hodgson with the tally on the power play. At even strength, though, Bernier was solid.
“I sound like a broken record,” said Harding. “Bernier, as a 16-year-old, is better than in my wildest dreams when the season started. He’s really something special.”
Alexandre Picard scored the first of his two on the night just two minutes later on a feed from Alex Bourret and put the Maineiacs ahead for good. An empty-netter while shorthanded with less than 30 seconds to play off the stick of Picard sealed the victory, and gave Bernier an assist as he sent the puck up to Picard on an errant dump-in by Bathurst.
After facing Rimouski on the road tonight, Lewiston returns home to face the Oceanic and Sidney Crosby for the final time at the Colisee this season.
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