SHAWINIGAN, Quebec – This time there were no secrets. The Lewiston Maineiacs maintained their three-line system, their 1-2-2 forechecking scheme and their drive to the net.
They also came away with what many consider to be a shocking 2-0 series lead.
Marc-Andre Daneau scored his first goal on the playoffs 23 seconds after Brandon Roach had given the Maineiacs a one-goal lead in the second period as Lewiston, for the second consecutive night, upended the Shawinigan Cataractes 4-1 at the Jacques Plante Arena.
“I think we as a team expected this, and we achieved that goal,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin.
The Maineiacs’ biggest asset this weekend may have been their team speed, which they used to make the Shawinigan defenders look more like practice pylons while applying offensive pressure.
“We knew we needed to go wide on them,” said Maineiacs’ forward Alexandre Picard. “We have a lot of speed on this team, and we need to use it. That’s how we can beat Shawinigan.”
Jodoin, meanwhile, has repeated three keys to the game all week, and he again hung the same sheet of paper on the locker room wall prior to the game. The most important so far? Discipline.
“During the regular season we were the most-penalized team in the league,” said Jodoin. “This is a new season. Now, in the playoffs, we want to have the least amount of penalties.”
And while the Maineiacs weren’t perfect in that regard (the one Shawinigan goal was a power-play goal), they did manage to draw penalties that led to two more power-play goals. Over two games, Lewiston has four goals on 11 chances.
As it did in the first game, Lewiston controlled the game physically from the outset, and once again the Maineiacs went on top with an early power play goal.
This time, Alexandre Picard sprang free up the right side and slipped behind the defense just as Jonathan Paiement fed him the puck through the defender’s legs. Picard swung in low underneath the defense and lofted the puck between Ellis’ arm and body.
“It was a nice pass in the middle of the ice from Paiement,” said Picard. “I just used my speed to get around the defense, and when I went in I tried to go between his legs. At first I thought the puck was on the post, but I looked up and saw the red light.”
Shawinigan pulled even for the first time in the series (other than at 0-0) on a goal by Friday night goal-scorer Steve Bellefleur. This time, he didn’t need to bank the puck in, as he roofed a rebound from a point shot by Pierre-Marc Guilbault over Halak, knotting the score at one.
The Cataractes and their fans were fired up throughout the rest of the period, and had Lewiston back on its heels more than once, but Halak stood strong. Even when a puck did sneak by Halak early on, Brandon Roach rescued it from the edge of the goal line and fired it down the ice. Halak finished with 29 saves.
The small section of Maineiacs’ fans had plenty of reason to cheer as the period drew to a close. Brandon Roach completed a perfect power play for the Maineiacs with a blast that beat Ellis low to the glove side to again put Lewiston ahead by one.
“That was a great setup,” said Roach. “I had the puck but they were all following me so I dished it off to Bourret on the boards. He got it over to Aubin who got it back to me at the point. I moved in and found the net.”
Twenty-three seconds later, Marc-Andre Daneau put on a rare show of steady hands and goal-scoring touch when he took a long feed in the neutral zone from Sebastien Piche and burned Shawinigan defenseman Nicolas Desilets to the left side. Still, the defender hung on to Daneau enough to bother him, but not enough to prevent him from chipping the puck short-side on Ellis, putting Lewiston ahead 3-1.
“I had the speed to go around him,” said Daneau. “I just stayed o the outside and shot on the other side when I moved across.”
“We kept saying he had no hands, and now he is scoring,” quipped Jodoin. “Maybe there is something to that.”
The series resumed in Lewiston on Tuesday with Game 3 at the Colisee at 7 p.m.
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