By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

One goal in the second period was all Acadie-Bathurst needed Wednesday in a 1-0 victory over the Lewiston Maineiacs.

Mathieu Roy scored his 27th of the season at 15:54 of the second period to lift last place Acadie-Bathurst to the win. Lewiston remained eighth overall with 66 points, one behind Rouyn-Noranda.

“It’s frustrating because you need the two points because you want home ice advantage, but you have to respect the other team,” said Lewiston coach Clement Jodoin. “We played our B’ game tonight. We didn’t play our A’ game.”

Jodoin was especially frustrated with the Maineiacs ability to execute the little things, especially face-offs.

In a tight checking affair, in which Lewiston was outshot 29-25, the Maineiacs could have used more opportunities from the face-off circle.

“We just lost too many face-offs,” said Jodoin. “I mention it to a lot of the players that face-offs mean energy. You save energy if you win. When you lose face-offs, you lose energy. When you win face-offs, you give yourself a chance on offense.”

The only goal came off Lewiston’s failed attempt to dump the puck into its offensive zone.

Roy subsequently finished off an odd-man rush.

“It was a turnover in the neutral zone,” said Jodoin. “We have to throw the puck along the boards. Instead we gave up a two-on-one. It’s a simple thing, and you have to do the simple things.”

Lewiston netminder Jonathan Bernier played well in the loss. He stopped 28 shots.

Bernier was supposed to get the start, but Jodoin mistakenly put Jaroslav Halak’s name in the starting lineup. Bernier replaced him just 34 seconds into the game.

Lewiston was outshot 13-7 in the opening period but produced 18 shots on net over the final two periods.

“It was a tight checking game,” said Jodoin. “There wasn’t too much space on the ice. The space, you had to earn it.”