One year after stunning Moncton at home with a six-goal, come-from-behind victory, the Lewiston Maineiacs nearly did it again Sunday.

Five different Wildcats scored in the first two periods, and the team’s defense and goaltender Jhase Sniderman held on under furious pressure late as Moncton upended the Maineiacs 7-6 at the Moncton Coliseum on Sunday.

Twenty-year-old Pierre-Luc Faubert scored three goals in the losing effort, bringing his two-game total to five, and rookie David Taylor notched his first of the year for the Maineiacs.

The Wildcats are now a surprising 5-1 on the season despite losing most of the players who helped them win the President’s Trophy last season. Lewiston, meanwhile, slips to 1-1.

“John Torchetti (Moncton’s coach) coaches his teams to play hard,” said assistant coach Jeff Guay. “This Moncton team plays hard, and they still have some guys back from last year out there who played a good game. Andrew MacDonald was probably the best player on the ice.”

Six of the seven Moncton goals came on power plays. In all, the Wildcats were a man up 15 times, including three separate stretches of lengthy 5-on-3 play.

“We spent too much time in the box,” said Guay. “Some of the calls, we deserved, but there were others that were questionable. Every time we battled back, we were back in the box.”

The Maineiacs started well, picking up their skating and intensity where they left off after Friday’s 7-1 win over P.E.I., outshooting Moncton 7-0 in the first two minutes of the game and 10-0 before the Wildcats registered their first shot on goal.

“We played well for the first seven or so minutes,” said Guay. “After that, we were second to the puck, and I think we made some bad decisions on the power play and penalty kill.”

Moncton struck first in the goals column, though. And they struck often.

Chris Morehouse, Andrew MacDonald and Randy Cameron all struck for goals within five minutes across the middle of the opening frame to stake the home team to a 3-0 lead.

Rookie David Perron got one back for Lewiston at 14:38 with his second of the season, but in the second, thanks in part to several Lewiston penalties, Moncton struck for three more, one each from Matt Marquardt, Christian Gaudet and Cameron.

Lewiston got goals from Faubert and Taylor to keep within three, though, and Faubert finished his hat trick in the third with two goals inside the first minute of play in the final frame to pull Lewiston to within one at 6-5.

MacDonald managed his second of the game midway through the third, though, to momentarily quell the Maineiacs’ momentum, only to watch as Marc-Andre Daneau popped another puck past Sniderman with less than four minutes to play to again draw the visitors to within one at 7-6.

Despite a flurry late and a 6-on-4 with Maineiacs netminder Jonathan Bernier pulled, Lewiston stalled there.

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