It appeared to be a carbon copy of Friday night’s game.

The Lewiston Maineiacs took a 3-0 lead into the third period at Mile One Stadium in St. John’s, had all of the momentum and appeared ready to march out of the arena with a two-game sweep of the Fog Devils.

This time, though, St. John’s coach Real Paiement threw the Maineiacs a curve – he replaced starting netminder Ilia Ejov with backup Devin O’Brien to start the final period. Apparently, that’s all it took to fire up his team.

Four different Fog Devils scored in the third period – including three in the first nine minutes – to lift St. John’s to a 4-3 win over the Maineiacs on Sunday.

“Christmas is coming,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “We gave them a nice gift. The game was played on details, and we didn’t play well enough, the details of the game, in the third period.”

The win foiled Lewiston’s attempt to put together its first four-game winning streak since the 2004-05 season, and washed out the gains the team made with a tough road win Saturday in the same building.

The teams skated through a scoreless first period, though Lewiston had the better chances.

In the second, Kevin Marshall put the Maineiacs ahead 1-0 at 3:24, and Stefan Chaput added his second of the weekend less than two minutes later.

Chris Tutalo, who has come alive this weekend on the road, notched his second goal of the season and fourth point in two games with a goal at 15:36.

“He’s playing well, he’s competing hard and he is moving up to more ice time,” said Jodoin of Tutalo.

But in the third, the Maineiacs unraveled.

Pier-Alexandre Poulin potted his third of the year early in the period to pull his team back within two. Luke Gallant scored a power play goal at 6:00, and at 8:22, Mario Kempe knotted the score with his eighth of the season.

The back-breaker came with 7:23 to play when Ryan Graham outraced Sebastien Piche to a loose puck in the neutral zone after Kevin Marshall fell down at the point on a Maineiacs’ power play.

“The first goal, was bad D-zone coverage,” said Jodoin. “The second was on a power play for them after we shot the puck over the glass, the third was D-zone coverage again and the fourth was on our power play. Those are the details we have to be better on. It’s not physical, it’s mental.”

Peter Delmas suffered his first loss in net for Lewiston, stopping 24 of 28 shots.

Ejov did not get a decision and O’Brien earned the win for St. John’s, stopping all 12 shots he saw in the final frame.

After two days off, Lewiston will begin a stretch of four games in five night Wednesday with a game in Halifax.