LEWISTON – While ice dancing’s only similarity to ice hockey is the surface on which both are contested, Lewiston forward Stefano Giliati looked Sunday like he was paying close attention to this week’s coverage of the former at the Olympic Games.
Giliati scored two highlight-reel goals and had numerous other chances thanks to his speed and creativity, leading the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 4-2 win over the visiting P.E.I. Rocket in front of 2,833 at the Colisee.
“They have speed with all of their forwards,” said P.E.I. coach Yanick Jean. “It’s not just Giliati. They are a hard-skating team, and we had a hard time keeping up.”
The Rocket were at the end of a lengthy road trip, and had started to play better in recent games, but still could not keep up with Lewiston’s speed.
“The thing is, our confidence isn’t really there,” said Jean. “We’re so used to not working. On the first four games of the road trip, we didn’t work at all, and now that we are working, even if we make a couple of mistakes, it kills us.”
Mathieu Aubin also reached two milestones in the win Sunday, passing Alex Bourret for the franchise’s single-season point-scoring record (now 87) and also edging past Alexandre Picard for the Maineiacs’ career lead in goals with 80.
Despite firing out of the gate with more intensity than they’ve displayed in a while, the Maineiacs fell behind early thanks to an aggressive P.E.I. penalty kill.
Tyler Hawes out-raced both Michal Korenko and Jonathan Paiement to a loose puck through the center zone, slipped across the crease in front of Bernier and slid the puck underneath him to put the Rocket ahead 1-0.
“I was hoping we were not going to see the same thing we saw against Saint John,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “Usually a goal against is not a good sign.”
Lewiston’s efforts were finally rewarded at 12:28 of the opening frame when Eric Castonguay finished off a perfect passing play with an extra skater to tie the game.
“We had some great chances against Saint John and we couldn’t capitalize on them,” said Jodoin. “We are moving the puck well.”
Aubin’s record-breaker with 33 seconds to play in the period put Lewiston ahead to stay, 2-1.
The teams settled into a defensive struggle for most of the middle frame, with each team having chances to score later in the period.
Lewiston capitalized on a delayed penalty at 13:30 when Stefano Giliati fired a wrist shot from the right circle off the right post, just under the crossbar, putting the Maineiacs up 3-1.
“I was patient with the puck and just waited on the delayed penalty,” said Giliati. “We moved the puck around, and finally I got the puck in the corner. I saw Mior paddle down and the top corner open, so I faked like I was going to pass and just shot.”
In the third, Giliati wasted little time in putting the exclamation point on his team’s win. The speedster took a pass at center ice from Marc-Andre Daneau and went in alone on P.E.I. netminder Ryan Mior. he tried a familar move, missed, but got a fortunate bounce.
“I tried the same move I did against (Gatineau goaltender David) Tremblay,” said Giliati of his double-shot fake and deke. “It didn’t work again, but I got lucky this time. The puck was in my feet and I just shoveled it at the net.”
Geoff Walker capitalized on a costly Maineiacs miscue at 14:45 to pull his team within two at 4-2, but Lewiston snuffed out the Rocket’s comeback attempt late in the third to complete the win.
The Maineiacs return to action Wednesday when they host Halifax in a pivotal divisional game at the Colisee.
Notes: Jakub Bundil left Sunday’s game with what Jodoin thought might be a broken collarbone after a hit in the offensive zone…Derek Bailey, who has been sidelined with a leg injury, will skate this week and hopes to be back in the lineup in two or three weeks.
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