Marc-Andre Daneau scored with one minute, 26 seconds left to lift the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 4-3 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs at Harbour Station Wednesday.
“Last year, we were on him all the time about his shot,” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding following Wednesday night’s game. “(Stefan) Chaput poked the puck forward off the faceoff, and Daneau was working hard and got to the puck and put it in.”
Marc-Andre Cliche scored his first two goals of the preseason and Chaput had a goal and an assist in the win. Jonathan Bernier, also making his debut between the pipes for the Maineiacs, was stellar, stopping 50 of the 53 shots fired in his direction.
“I don’t know how accurate the shot total was,” said Harding, “but Jonathan played well tonight. This was the first time that (Bernier) had played with the defensemen, and it was important to work on the communication between him and the defensemen tonight.”
The Sea Dogs opened the scoring early, with a shorthanded goal from Alexandre Monohan at 2:01 on a pass from Mike Neil. The Maineiacs recovered two minutes later, getting an unassisted power play tally from Chaput to even the score at one.
Jean-Philippe Roy-Vallieres got the home team back on top early in the second frame when he knocked the puck past Bernier.
Cliche struck for his first of the night, again on a Maineiacs power play, with just two seconds remaining in the middle frame. Assists went to Giliati and Chad Denny.
Cliche scored his second of the night less than one minute into the third period, and the Maineiacs held that lead deep into the final frame. Kevin Coughlin, a Massachusetts native who last year played for Quebec, knotted the score at three at 16:46 of the third.
“It was kind of a sloppy game on our part,” said Harding. “It was important, especially with some of the veterans back in the lineup, to come out of there with a win. We also didn’t want to lose two in a row to Saint John.”
Lewiston returns to action tonight in Bathurst against the Titan.
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