So far, so good for the Lewiston Maineiacs as they near the end of a four-game road trip through the province of Quebec.

Wednesday, it was Jonathan Paiement’s turn to shine as he dropped in two goals and added two assists to lead the Maineiacs to a 6-1 win over the Rimouski Oceanic in front of 3,761 at the Colisee de Rimouski.

Mathieu Aubin added two goals and an assist and newcomer Marc-Andre Crete had two assists, his first two QMJHL points, while Travis Fullerton overcame a bad early goal on a Rimouski power play, making 26 saves to post the win.

“It was a good win for us to take,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “To only allow one goal, our power play was working O.K. Our penalty kill unit played very well and everybody, everybody contributed to the game. I played everybody all night.”

The game remained tight for 50 minutes, with the Maineiacs hanging on to a 3-1 lead, but three late-third period goals opened things up for Lewiston, which has now won seven of its last 11 games.

“I wasn’t too worried about it early,” said Jodoin. “As long as they were executing properly. We can still play better.”

Lewiston’s speed was a problem for the Rimouski defense all night. Lewiston outshot the Oceanic, who have won just eight games all year, 10-2 to start the game.

“Their defense is just too slow to compete with the better teams in the league,” said Jodoin.

Lewiston got on the board early when Chad Denny fired a shot through traffic that beat former Maineiac netminder Michael Chiasson just 2:09 into the game. Rimouski countered less than three minutes later on a Marc-Andre Laroche tally, but would get nothing more past Fullerton, who won his fifth game of the year between the pipes. Aubin got his first of two on the night late in the first to put Lewiston ahead 2-1, and Paiement got his first in the second period. In the third, after battling through the first 11 minutes, Stefan Chaput continued on his torrid streak with a goal, and Paiement and Aubin each collected a second goal to cap the scoring.

Notes: According to Jodoin, Marc-Andre Crete will in all likelihood finish out the season with the Maineiacs in Lewiston, pending a meeting with Crete and his family. Meanwhile, Alex Sousa, the Maineiacs’ seventh defenseman who has been rehabilitating a broken wrist, was sent home by the team. Jodoin would not elaborate further.

Wednesday night.


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