A quick strike by Michal Korenko just 22 seconds into the game and a timely nail in the coffin by Marc-Andre Cliche with 2:51 left on the clock helped the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 3-1 win over the expansion St. John’s Fog Devils in Newfoundland on Monday night.
“It’s good to get the first one (win) out of the way,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “It’s always the toughest one to get.”
In each of the past two years, Lewiston has gone five and three games before winning its first of the season.
Jonathan Bernier kept the Maineiacs in the game through the second and third periods as the team hung onto a 2-1 lead for most of the night until Cliche put the Fog Devils away with a power-play tally at the 17:09 mark of the final frame.
Bernier made 28 saves on 29 shots, while counterpart Brandon Verge, who backstopped the Fog Devils to a shootout win last Friday against Lewiston, was again shelled, stopping 37 of 40 shots.
“(Bernier) is able to transfer what he does in practice onto the ice during games,” said Jodoin. “He got into some games last year as a 16-year-old and got the experience, and now he is making the key saves at the right time for us.”
The same two teams will finish up their three-game set tonight at Mile One Stadium in St. John’s.
The Maineiacs didn’t waste any time getting on the board Monday. After early pressure forced a faceoff in the Fog Devils’ zone, Stefan Chaput won the faceoff back to Korenko at the point and he let a shot rip that tipped off of Verge’s right pad and into the net.
“(Korenko) played a very, very good game,” said Jodoin. “He stood up against their players very well. The whole defense, they moved the puck a lot better this game than on Friday.”
Olivier Legault narrowly missed his second career goal two minutes later, but St. John’s defenseman Zack Firlotte corralled a puck headed for an empty net behind Verge to keep Lewiston’s lead at just one.
Mathieu Aubin capitalized on a 5-on-3 at 8:18 to put the Maineiacs ahead 2-0 with assists from Pier-Luc Champagne and Korenko.
The Fog Devils returned the favor at 12:33 of the opening frame when Sebastien Bernier tucked the puck past Jonathan Bernier with St. John’s on the power play to cut the lead in half.
In the second, neither team escaped the penalty bug. But both teams could not capitalize on their opportunities with an extra skater. So the teams headed to the third period with Lewiston still on top 2-1.
“To me, the score should have been 5-1 after the second period,” said Jodoin. “We have the chances. It’s not like we are not getting chances to score, we’re just not putting the puck in the net. We have a fast team. We can skate, but tonight we couldn’t finish.”
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