LEWISTON – Happy birthday, Stephane Chaput, and welcome to your new home.
In just his second home game since joining the Lewiston Maineiacs, Chaput, now 17 by one day, tipped home a feed from Ryan Murphy 1:37 into overtime to lift the Maineiacs to a 3-2 win over the Quebec Remparts in front of 3,534 fans, the largest crowd to attend a game all season.
“I came off the bench and we had a pretty good breakout,” said Chaput. “Murphy took off up the right side and I rushed the net up the middle, and he made a great pass. I just skated as hard as I could.”
“I changed speed on (the Quebec defender),” said Murphy. “He back off a bit and I waited until the right spot before driving by him. I turned it on on the outside, and saw Chaput out of the corner of my eye. I put it out front to him and he got the tip.”
The goal is Chaput’s third point since joining the team, and his first goal.
“I had to make the adjustment from wing to center tonight,” said Chaput. “It took a while to adjust, but it worked out.
On the other end of the ice, no one was happier than Jaroslav Halak, who in two games has frustrated the Remparts over and over again.
“Halak.” said Quebec coach Eric Lavigne. “Halak. He is the reason they won. He played two great games against us this week, and tonight he stole a point for them.”
With the win, Lewiston reaches 70 points for the season, putting the Maineiacs in a tie for eighth with Cape Breton, which tied Chicoutimi on Friday night. Other teams around the Maineiacs also lost. The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies lost to Rimouski 10-6, while Gatineau fell 2-1 to Halifax. Lewiston is now three points behind the Huskies for seventh overall, and three ahead of Gatineau.
“Those two points were really big points,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Jeff Guay on behalf of the coaching staff. “
Guay also was quick to credit his netminder.
“He made some great saves for us tonight,” said Guay. “He’s a top notch goalie and it’s easy to see why the Montreal Canadiens drafted him. He played well in his own zone and his puck handling was alright tonight.”
Lewiston jumped out to a 1-0 lead when Murphy picked off a pass in his own zone and raced past Quebec defenseman Guillaume Veilleux. All alone, he stymied netminder Jonathan Boutin and slid to his left, popping the puck into an open net.
The Maineiacs added another at 1:31 of the second when Alexandre Picard tipped home a Jonathan Cameron wrister from the left circle after Quebec had carried much of the play to start the period.
As time wound down in the middle frame, though, the legs started to tire under the Maineiacs.
Karl Gagne tipped a shot from the point past Halak at 14:38 to draw the Remparts to within one at 2-1 and, with the goaltender pulled in the final minute of the third, Jordan LaVallee roofed a backhander from in close to knot the score.
“We have guys hurt, some guys sick and some guys playing through sickness and injury,” said Guay. “I think we ran out of gas a bit in the third and we weren’t too good in our own end, but we hung on. I can’t count the number of times Bourret had to throw up throughout the course of the game. It was at least 10, but he kept playing. They all did.”
Even Sheldon Wenzel, who fought in the opening frame and had to leave after taking a slash to the leg in the second, reappeared in the third, visibly limping.
In overtime, knowing how important the game was, the coaches decided to roll three forwards and one defenseman in the 4-on-4 format. The result? Five shots on goal and a game-winner from the freshest rookie on the team.
Lewiston squares off against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, the team with whom it is tied in the standings, Sunday at the Colisee.
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