LEWISTON – With six games left on the schedule, the Lewiston Maineiacs feel that eight points, which adds up to four wins in their final six games, will secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Standing in their way? The Quebec Remparts, who are catching the Maineiacs on a goal-scoring skid.
“The skid you are talking about is that we traveled 1,800 miles for one goal,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “That hurts a little bit. We’ve worked on that the last couple of days. We did what we call two-on-one scoring drills, just to get it into the guys minds that we can score. This team can score goals, so we’re not worried about that.”
And while the Remparts have a potent offense, defensively, the Maineiacs feel they might have an advantage.
“Maybe the best medicine for us is to play Quebec,” said Harding. “Quebec defensively is not that good. They’ve been known to give up quite a few goals, so hopefully that’s the remedy, but they are a dangerous, dangerous team offensively. If we cough the puck up in the middle of the ice and they transition on us offensively, we’re in big trouble so we’re going to have to do better that way.”
Last week, Lewiston traveled to Acadie-Bathurst and lost 1-0, and then to Cape Breton where it fell 4-1 in a rough, physically draining contest.
“It was a little tit-for-tat kind of thing,” said Harding. “They had one guy that came over and challenged our bench at the end of the second period. There were a few cheap hits out there, too. We’re not angels and we’re not going to pretend to be. It certainly sets up for an interesting game on Sunday, but I’m not even thinking about them. I’ve got two games with Quebec now.”
And Quebec, with Josh Hennessy, Jordan LaVallee, Alexandre Radulov and Karl Gagne, is a dangerous offensive team.
“Their forwards are electric,” said Harding. “They’re very good. They move the puck up quickly, they have line rushes. They’re very good on the forecheck. If we continually turn the puck over at center ice and play in our own zone, we’re not going to get the two points. If we play smart and keep the puck along the boards and forecheck them, where they’re not as strong and get a cycle going, then we’ll be in good shape.”
Between the pipes, Lewiston feels that it has the edge going into the next two games.
“We’ve got better goaltending, so that’s not a problem,” said Harding, “and we’re confident in either guy playing.”
According to Harding, Jaroslav Halak will get the start tonight, trying to kick start an eight-points-in-six-games streak, which the Maineiacs hope will lead them to a top-eight finish.
“We need eight,” said Harding. “That’s the way we look at it for home-ice advantage. With nine games left, we felt we needed 10 points, and we already have two, so we need eight points now in six games. It’s going to be tough, but you do the best you can and hopefully we can pull off four this week before we even see Cape Breton on Sunday. Tomorrow night we have to go into their building. We’ve played well and beat them in their building, and we have to do the same thing, but it’s going to come down to who is more intelligent. If we play with some smarts, we’ll win the game.”
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