The bleeding has stopped – for now.
Jaroslav Halak made 36 saves, Alexandre Picard scored two goals and Alex Bourret had a goal and two assists as the Lewiston Maineiacs upended the Quebec Remparts 5-2 at the Colisee Pepsi in front of a crowd of 5,902.
“Those were two big points on the road,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “We still have some things we need to work on, but the win is big.”
The win, the 30th of the season, ends the Maineiacs’ two-game skid during which they scored one goal. The win also vaults Lewiston into ninth place overall, one point ahead of idle Gatineau and one behind Cape Breton for eighth.
“We’re still only in ninth and we are looking for home-ice advantage,” said Harding. “Now we need to come back strong against Quebec on Friday.”
The Maineiacs opened the scoring at 2:58 when Picard picked off a pass and scored shorthanded, giving Lewiston an early 1-0 lead.
“That was a beautiful shot,” said Ed Harding. “We’ve been working on it in practice with him, and he’s known he needs to improve his shooting.”
Karl Gagne tied it for Quebec early in the second on a feed from Michael Tessier, but Eric Castonguay again came up big for Lewiston, potting his 18th of the season on a feed from newcomer Stephane Chaput on the power play to again put Lewiston ahead.
Mathieu Aubin made it 3-1 in the third before Gennady Churilov again drew the home team to within one on a power play.
Bourret scored his 30th and Picard his 38th down the stretch, as the Maineiacs pulled out the road win.
Halak kept the Maineiacs in front with some nifty stops in goal.
“Halak came up with some outstanding saves at the end of the second period to keep us ahead 2-1,” said Harding. “Coach Jodoin had a stern talk with the boys after the period about playing smart in the third.”
Lewiston takes the ice twice at home this weekend, once on Friday against Quebec and again on Sunday against Cape Breton.
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