LEWISTON – If Maineiacs fans and players feel like this series so far has been a case of deja vu, they are not alone, nor are they crazy.
In 2004, in the team’s first postseason appearance, Lewiston split the first two games with Rouyn-Noranda before dropping the next two at home to fall behind 3-1.
“They’re two different teams,” said Maineiacs forward Ryan Murphy. “Rimouski has great offense this year and Rouyn-Noranda was more of an all-around team last year, but it’s basically the same feeling, and it’s not a good one.”
Being two games down is something every player on the team last year has already been through.
“The guys that were there last year, we know it can be done, we’ve done this before,” said defenseman Bobby Gates. “The older, veteran guys have a little experience, and we just have to let the younger guys know that this happened to us before and this is only two games. You have to win four, and the next two are in our building. We want to go out and take these two and maybe grab one on the road and come back here for Game 6. That’s what we want.”
“I think having the experience of being down last year,” added forward Sheldon Wenzel. “Lots of these guys want it, and we know what we have to do to get there this time. We have to stay out of the box, shut down their top line and just bury our chances when we get them.”
Suspended again
When Nick Cowan steps onto the ice Wednesday night – not tonight – in his home playoff debut, it will be his first appearance on home ice since Feb. 27.
On the ensuing road trip, Cowan received a 10-game suspension for returning to the ice during an altercation from which he had already been escorted. Friday, he returned to action in Game 1 at Rimouski, but in Game 2 he was assessed a major penalty for high sticking and another automatic one-game suspension.
Power-play woes
Against Shawinigan, the Lewiston Maineiacs converted 30 percent of their power-play chances in four games. Against Rimouski in Game 1, the team went 3-for-8, bringing the five-game percentage up over 31 percent, and things seemed to all of a sudden click for a unit that was a shade worse than 17 percent during the regular season.
In Game 2, though, the power play went cold, going 0-for-13, which brought the team’s percentage down to 23.5 percent.
“The power play was good in the first game but not in the second,” said Jodoin. “That’s one of the things we had to work on. It’s not how much time you spend on it, but the quality of the time.”
Penalty-kill success
Despite dropping from first to second in power-play efficiency, the Maineiacs’ penalty-kill unit has handled the Rimouski power play well, allowing just four goals on 22 short-handed chances.
“We did our homework,” said Jodoin. “It comes back to execution. The game plan for the games are done.”
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