LEWISTON – Chad Denny’s third-period struggles disappeared with the flick of his burly wrists Saturday night.

The veteran Lewiston Maineiacs defenseman took a bouncing puck at the top of the slot high in the Cape Breton zone, shifted to his right, settled the puck on his stick blade and fired a wrist shot in traffic. With 23 seconds to play in what had been a bizarre game, Denny’s shot sailed through a gaggle of players, including netminder Ondrej Pavelec, and lifted the Maineiacs to a 5-4 victory in front of 2,427 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“I got a lucky bounce on the play and puck came right to me,” said Denny. “I was in the right place at the right time and (teammate Stefano) Giliati found me and I shot it toward the net.”

The Screaming Eagles, who stole the show in the Maineiacs’ home opener Friday night, looked outgunned and outplayed for much of the game, but hung in there, thanks in large part to their first line and top power-play unit.

“We would have been lucky to leave here with a point tonight,” said Cape Breton coach Pascal Vincent. “We didn’t deserve to win that game, but we stayed in there by capitalizing on our opportunities.”

Lewiston outshot Cape Breton 26-18, including 10-3 in the second period. Giliati and rookie David Taylor each potted two goals in those periods as the Maineiacs built a 4-2 lead.

“The past two games, the puck’s really been bouncing their way,” said Giliati. “Even tonight, but we found a way to overcome that. We have to start playing better and execute.”

But Cape Breton stuck around, and got a goal from Dean Ouellet late in the second, and a beautiful power-play goal from Paul Alexander McIlveen at 12:27 of the third to knot the score.

“I couldn’t see on that fourth goal at all,” said Bernier, who had one of his own players defending in front of him. “It was all screen.”

Bernier had a tough night in net for Lewiston, due in part to the lack of shots he saw, and to a pair of bang-bang power play goals.

“I know I didn’t have my best game tonight, but we got that last goal and we got the two points, and now we have to get ready for the next game,” said Bernier.

Pavelec, meanwhile, had the worst night in Lewiston of his young career. He looked shaky in the first, and through the Maineiacs’ first four goals, seemed to battle the puck.

“If we don’t have Pavelec, it’s a lot worse in the second period, though,” said Vincent. “He kept us in that period.”

Pavelec held on in the third, too, until Denny’s late goal.

Lewiston started the goal-scoring just 2:40 in on Triston Manson and Taylor’s first connection of the game, and Giliati scored his fourth at 4:52 to put the home team ahead 2-0.

Much like Friday night, the Eagles started to battle back. Brendon MacDonald scored his first of the year at 8:33 to pull Cape Breton within one, and Cam Fergus netted his ninth of the season on a 5-on-3 at 10:51 to knot it back up.

Taylor and Manson lifted the crowd from its seats with less than a minute to play in the opening frame, as Taylor stuffed a rebound past Pavelec on a nice spin feed from Manson at 19:34.

Lewiston’s defense held Cape Breton without a shot for the first 17:20 of the second period, and Giliati scored his second of the game at 7:56 to build a 4-2 lead for the Maineiacs.

After the Eagles managed their first shot of the period, their second found the back of the net on a perfect pass from Jean-Claude Sawyer to Dean Ouellet at the right post.

“It’s hard to play a game like that with no shots,” said Bernier. “There is no rhythm.”

The Maineiacs next play Friday at the Colisee when they host Chicoutimi, and they follow that with a Sunday matinee against Patrick Roy and the defending Memorial Cup champion Quebec Remparts.