By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

The Lewiston Maineiacs’ 7-0 win over Saint John on Saturday night was more than just a solid road win for three of the players.

Jonathan Paiement, who is currently playing in his fifth Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season, needed just one point to reach 200 for his career, and he got that point with an assist on the team’s third goal of the night. Paiement also played in his 322nd career game Saturday night.

He leads all active players in that category.

Travis Fullerton, meanwhile notched his first career QMJHL shutout, stopping all 18 shots he saw in the win.

Mathieu Aubin hit the record books a few times Saturday night.

With his hat trick and assist, Aubin passed Paiement to become the Lewiston franchise’s all-time points leader. Aubin now has 173 points since the team moved to Lewiston, while Paiement is at 170.

Aubin also tied the team mark for goals in one season and the mark for points in a season. Alexandre Picard had 40 goals last year, while Alex Bourret had 86 points.

Aubin’s four-point night also lifted him into a tie for 11th overall in the league this season.

Staying healthy

All season, with one glaring exception, the Lewiston Maineiacs have managed to avoid major injuries. Now, as the colder weather starts to bite down, so does the spread of cold and flu symptoms throughout the locker room.

“A lot of the kids, they’re still sick,” said Jodoin. “I don’t want to carry that as an excuse, but we’re not completely fresh. We’re tired, we’re exhausted, we’re injured a little bit and we have kids who are sick, injured and still playing. They are not machines, they are not robots.”

First-line center Marc-Andre Cliche was conspicuously absent in the third period of Friday’s game against Gatineau, a casualty of the spreading illness.

“He’s sick, very, very sick,” said Jodoin. “He puked three times after the second period. I told him to stay out, you know. We don’t need him that badly. It’s sad, but we had to do it.”

Other players battling illness include Stefan Chaput, Stefano Giliati and Pier-Luc Champagne.

Good news

Derek Bailey, the one player on the team who has had to deal with a major injury this season, got some good news this week from the results of another MRI done on his knee.

“Nothing is damaged or broken,” said Jodoin. There is some swelling, but that’s it. For him, it’s just time. It could be two weeks, three weeks, but he should be back in time for the playoffs for sure.”

Bailey left last Friday’s game against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar under his own power — barely — after he collided knee-first with a Baie-Comeau defender along the boards.

Experiment revived

Last year, shock befell some observers as they watched Chad Denny line up as a forward for several games, including some playoff matchups. This year, the league Web site even referred to Denny as a left wing, and he was invited to the top prospects game as a forward. This, despite not playing any games at the forward position — until Friday.

In the third period, Denny lined up to the left of Mathieu Aubin and Jakub Bundil on the team’s top line and made an immediate impact. Hitting everything in sight, Denny jump-started the Maineiacs’ energy in the period and had two excellent scoring chances in front of the net.

“It’s not a panic move,” said Jodoin. “We still have a card that we can play. It’s not a secret, but if we ever need somebody to move up, we know he can move up.”

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