LEWISTON –The Halifax Mooseheads’ pregame stretch included chants of “Home ice, home ice.” They knew what this game and the nine others remaining meant.
So, too, did the Lewiston Maineiacs, who staked themselves to a three-goal lead in the first 22:40 Wednesday night, and appeared to have the game in hand.
Playing in front of a smallish crowd of 2,174 at the Colisee, the Maineiacs began their final push toward the league’s second season with a limp, falling to the Mooseheads 4-3 in what has become a dreaded shootout.
“We’re very disappointed,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “We had the game, at 3-1, we made two dumb mistakes and we lost the game. We had chances to make it 4-1, 5-1 or 6-1, and we didn’t put the puck in the net, but after that you still have to play a smart game.”
The Mooseheads, meanwhile, were playing their fourth game in six nights, and had fallen to the Quebec Remparts 8-4 on Tuesday.
“We played pretty well in Quebec the first two periods (after which it was 3-3),” said Halifax coach Al MacAdam. “It was good to have this adrenaline game today after the traveling we are doing right now. We’ll just plug away and see what happens.”
In the shootout, the longest of the nine in which the Maineiacs have participated this season, Halifax forward Garrett Peters finished off the scoring with a shot through Lewiston goalie Jonathan Bernier’s pads on his team’s sixth attempt.
Stefan Chaput had the last shot in the shootout, but his backhand deke to Halifax netminder Jeremy Duchesne’s left smacked the goaltender’s pad and bounced harmlessly wide.
Mathieu Aubin scored Lewiston’s only shootout goal, while Rane Carnegie had Halifax’s first.
The win allowed Halifax to inch closer to the Maineiacs in the race for home-ice advantage in the first round of the upcoming playoffs. Lewiston gained one point and now sits at 71 points, while Halifax earned two and climbed to within three of the Maineiacs.
“We have nine games left and we’re three points ahead,” said Jodoin. “That’s it. I’m hoping we’re going to play well, hoping we will play smarter.”
The Mooseheads had started the third period trailing by two, but two costly Lewiston mistakes were enough to allow them back into the game. Lewiston defenseman Chad Denny was called for charging at 8:26 of the final frame, and Bryce Swan registered a goal on the ensuing power play to pull his team within one, and Carnegie finished a perfect 2-on-1 with David Brine with 1:29 to play after a Marc-Andre Daneau turnover to knot the score.
“It was a good game,” said Jodoin, “but it’s frustrating the way we gave it to them on a plate.”
The teams battled to a tense stalemate through the first 17 minutes of the game, neither managing to put much pressure on the goaltenders. Halifax managed just six shots in that span, despite three Maineiacs’ penalties and a one-minute 5-on-3 advantage.
Lewiston struck for a power play goal at 17:08 on just its second shot of the game as Denny, in his first game back from a leg injury, blasted the puck off Halifax defenseman Jiri Suchy’s arm and past Duchesne.
Just 2:05 later, Marc-Andre Cliche finished off a perfect feed from Jonathan Paiement at the right post with the Maineiacs again on the power play to make it 2-0.
“We thought we played pretty well in that period despite being down those two power play goals,” said MacAdam. “We have quite a bit of respect for their power play, but we persevered.”
Stefano Giliati batted home an odd rebound on a Denny shot just 2:40 into the second period to put Lewiston ahead 3-0. Denny fired a slapshot from the left point that caught Duchesne in the left shoulder. The puck caromed straight up and fell behind the netminder in the crease. Giliati stretched in from the left side and poked the puck over the line.
Halifax’s fourth line ended Bernier’s shutout bid at 7:20 of the middle frame when Dan Smith slid a shot past the Lewiston goalie off his own rebound. The teams battled from there, each failing to score with an extra attacker as time wound down.
The Maineiacs will play their final nine games over 17 days. Lewiston continues its grueling month of March on Friday in Chicoutimi, and returns to home ice Sunday to face the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
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