Unpredictable. Improbable. Unthinkable.
Dozens of words evoking a feeling of hopelessness could describe what the Lewiston Maineiacs may have been feeling after allowing five goals in the first 5:27 of the second period Friday night.
The only one that would not fit is “impossible.”
Stefan Chaput capped a thrilling comeback with his second goal of the night with 3:49 left as the Maineiacs rallied from a five-goal deficit to defeat the Moncton Wildcats 6-5 in front of 7,003 at the Moncton Coliseum.
The win is the Maineiacs’ second over Moncton on the road this season.
“For sure, this helps to build the team’s confidence,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “We did this with a short lineup, and we lost another during the game, but we played and we ended up with a good result.”
Marc-Andre Cliche, who had 21 points in 17 games, left the game early after a Chad Denny slapshot hit him in the wrist.
Chaput, meanwhile, showed a poise around the net the coaching staff had been waiting to see.
“We have to give them time,” said Jodoin. “The younger players, like Chaput, you all want them to be superstars. There are no superstars in this league. They are kids, and they take time to develop. It takes two, three, four years for this to happen, and Chaput is only 17.”
Down 5-2 to start the third period, the Maineiacs took advantage of backup Guillaume Blouin, who replaced starting netminder Jean-Christophe Blanchard.
Denny, fresh from the penalty box, beat Blouin with the Maineiacs’ first shot of the period to pull Lewiston to within two at 5-3.
Chaput added another Lewiston goal on the power play two minutes later to pull the Maineiacs to within one, and Stefano Giliati completed the comeback at 12:45.
Moncton (15-5-0-1) and Lewiston (8-9-0-4) battled through a mostly defensive first period during which the teams took a combined 17 shots on goal.
In the second, though, the fireworks began. Stephane Goulet got the Wildcats on the board at 1:07 with his 21st of the year, and Christian Gaudet followed at 2:05. Rookie Jean-Philip Chabot made it 3-0 at 3:31 and Adam Pineault added another 30 seconds later. At 5:27, Tim Spencer capped the flurry.
“We were losing all of our one-on-ones down low in our zone,” said Jodoin. “I was so mad about it.”
Despite the quick goals, though, Jodoin refused to pull Jonathan Bernier.
“Young players like (Bernier), they need to learn to be in both good and bad situations,” said Jodoin. “You can’t always take the easy way.”
The Maineiacs appeared to have things under control after that, and started to slowly chip away at the large lead. Mathieu Aubin scored at the 8:44 mark to put Lewiston on the board. Olivier Legault notched his first point of the year on that goal.
At 15:54, Brandon Roach cut the lead to 5-2.
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