By Kevin Mills,Staff Writer

BRUNSWICK – It was a power play that just might have given the Lewiston hockey team a much-needed spark in the first period.

It did just that, but not quite the way the Blue Devils had hoped. Lewiston gave up a short-handed goal on that advantage, but used a two-goal deficit to rally around instead.

The Blue Devils quickly tied the game by the end of the first period, and ultimately emerged with a 5-3 victory over Brunswick at Dayton Arena.

“We just turned it the right way,” said freshman forward Robbie Leeman. “Instead of keeping our heads down, we just turned it around.”

Lewiston answered Brunswick’s 2-0 lead with goals from Casey Poussard and Travis Lebrun less than a minute apart. After trading goals in the second, Lewiston got tallies from Leeman and an empty-netter from Lebrun.

“We had talked about our young kids stepping up,” said Lewiston coach Norm Gagne. “They did that. We had Leeman, a freshman, score a goal and Poussard scoring the first one. That really got us going, and he’s a sophomore. To have those two step up for us is big.”

Brunswick, which beat Lewiston, 4-3 in the opening round of the Gipper’s Tournament back in December, was ranked second in the lastest Eastern A Heal Point standings. Lewiston, coming off a tough 2-0 loss to Bangor, was ranked fourth.

“After losing to Bangor the other night, I was really discouraged because we’d been on a roll,” said Gagne. “We’d been playing good hockey. I thought we just got a little overconfident, and we got out of sync. We had two good days of practice, and we came back tough.”

Lewiston’s persistence paid off on the game-winner at 4:55 of the third. Toby Poirier did a nice job keeping the puck in at the left point. The Blue Devils had one shot in the slot blocked by a defender, but Leeman got another crack at it.

“We cycled and got it down low,” said Leeman. “I just turned around and took a shot. It bounced off somebody’s pads, and I was right there.”

Brunswick only managed one shot on goal after that. Josh Clark had a bid in front that was stuffed by Lewiston goaltender Brian Nason. After changing up the forecheck in the second period, Brunswick struggled to manufacture the offense and had just three shots in the final period.

“We put in a forecheck that we haven’t even practiced, and they executed it very well,” said Gagne.

The Dragons (11-4) had Lewiston scrambling in the defensive zone early and managed to take advantage of the Blue Devils slow start with a 2-0 lead. Blaine Cardali struck first off a face-off from the right circle at 6:25.

Lewiston (9-5-1) had a chance on the power play but managed just two shots. It was Brunswick that cashed in on the chance when Wes Caparratto stole the puck and went in alone for a short-handed tally at 9:03, just four seconds before the penalty expired.

Gagne reminded his team of comebacks against St. Dom’s and Waterville despite early deficits.

“I told them Remember that we didn’t let adversity interfere with what we wanted to do,'” said Gagne. “When we got down in the first period, I told them to keep a positive attitude and keep working hard, and that we’d make some good things happen.”

Lewiston responded in a hurry. With 2:10 left, Poussard snuck behind the defense and tucked a backhander by Brunswick goaltender Dennis Estes. Just 50 seconds later, Lebrun stole the puck and put a backhander through the legs of Estes to tie it with 1:20 left.

Lewiston took the lead just 37 seconds into the second period. Danny Cloutier got a pair of whacks at a loose puck in front for the go-ahead tally. The Dragons got that goal back on the power play with 5:16 left. Brunswick had a two-man advantage for 54 seconds and scored on its first shot on the five-on-three. Clark, stationed at the right post, one-timed a pass from the point by Steve May.