LEWISTON – Marc-Andre Daneau scored two goals and Stefan Chaput potted the winner with 1:32 remaining as the Lewiston Maineiacs skated past the Moncton Wildcats 3-2 in an exhibition game at the Colisee on Tuesday.
“We won’t have to work on killing penalties (today),” said Maineiacs assistant coach Ed Harding. “We saw an improvement from the game in Bathurst last week to tonight.”
Lewiston killed 13 of 14 Moncton power plays and score twice on 10 tries with an extra skater.
Both teams were missing several key players. Lewiston had six players away at professional training camp and will lose another today as Michal Korenko reports to Boston. Moncton was also short six regular players, as well as four who are sitting with minor injuries.
“Both teams were in the same situation tonight,” said Moncton coach Ted Nolan. “Training camp, and we’re still in that time frame, is all about evaluating the players. It’s not so much win or lose.”
Nolan did concede that the game’s ending was still exciting, and that the ride home would have been a lot nicer with a win.
“We had a couple of missed opportunities out there,” said Nolan. “I’m glad that they happened while it’s still an exhibition game.”
Daneau’s first goal made it 1-0 for the Maineiacs at 11:03 of the second period. The shot was an odd-angle offering from the right boards, almost in the corner, that found its way through Moncton netminder Guillaume Blouin.
Moncton tied the score less than two minutes later on a lazy play by Lewiston goalie Jonathan Bernier, when he failed to cover up the puck as it hit the paddle of his stick on a dump-in.
Daneau’s second tally, on the power play, gave Lewiston the lead back at 14:48.
The game appeared headed for a shootout after a third-period Moncton goal knotted the score at two, but Chaput roofed a stray rebound on an Eric Castonguay shot with the Maineiacs enjoying a 5-on-3 power play to ice the game.
“(Mathieu) Aubin and (Marc-Andre) Cliche make everyone around them play better, and when they are back we’ll reflect that,” said Harding, “but we’re going to be a good team. When not a single guy on the team is in the top 15 in the league in scoring but everyone is scoring, those are good teams.”
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