By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Patrick Bernier poked and prodded. He grabbed and pulled. The Shawinigan forward tried everything to lure Alex Bourret to the penalty box with him. He even pulled the jersey of the Lewiston Maineiac forward halfway off his back, but Bourret didn’t bite.

What Bernier knew was what the rest of his Cataracte teammates have discovered through the first three games of their QMJHL playoff series. Certainly Shawinigan is better served with Bourret off the ice than on it.

“He set the tone,” said Lewiston coach Clem Jodoin. “That was a sign of leadership. The game is played on the ice and after the first period, I told him, Alex, you’re acting like a leader.’ Sometimes it’s frustrating, but you’ve got to stay on the ice.”

Though Lewiston’s discipline was tried constantly Tuesday night and eventually waned, Bourret continued his torrid play as the Maineiacs built a 3-0 lead in the series. Lewiston can clinch its series with the Cataractes tonight.

Bernier’s futile attempt backfired and gave the Maineiacs the early momentum. Lewiston took a 1-0 lead on a power play just 4:42 into the game helping stake the Maineiaces to a 2-0 lead. Bourret had a goal and an assist on those two scores and scored a pair of goals by the time the first period ended. He finished with two goals and three assists.

“I thought it was a stupid penalty to take,” said Bourret. “It’s always good to take the lead at the beginning of the game.”

With Bernier in the box early in the first period, Bourret dodged another hit by the Cataractes and left the puck for Mathieu Aubin, who fired it into the top of the net for a power play tally.

Just over a minute later, Bourret intercepted a pass from a Cataractes defender, blew past him and chased Shawinigan goaltender Julien Ellis at 5:54 with a top-shelf shot.

He finished off a drop pass from Jonathan Paiment with 8:18 for another power-play goal and a 3-1 lead.

“He’s been playing very well at both ends of the ice,” said Jodoin. “He’s had great awareness. If you want to move on, everyone has to bring their game.”

Bourret has four goals and five assists in three playoff games thus far, putting him among the QMJHL’s playoff scoring leaders.

Some of his success has come on the power play where the Maineiacs have put up some impressive numbers in the playoffs.

“We worked a lot in practice on our power play,” said Bourret. “In the playoffs, the power plays are important. So we’ve worked a lot on them in practice.”

Lewiston entered Tuesday’s game with four power-play goals and a 36.4 percent success rate on 11 tries. With three straight power-play tallies, Lewiston had scored seven power plays on its first 14 attempts in the series. The Maineiacs finished with four more power play goals Tuesday on 11 attempts.

“We had a decent power play during the course of the year,” said Jodoin. “We just couldn’t capitalize on it.”