Rookie David Perron registered his first career hat trick – and the first by any Lewiston Maineiacs skater this season – and the team put up eight goals against two Moncton goaltenders.

But it still wasn’t enough in a game Maineiacs’ head coach and general manager Clem Jodoin called “emotionally draining.”

“It hurts right now,” said Jodoin. “It’s just a game, but emotionally, this hurts.”

Despite Perron’s three goals and three-point nights from Stefano Giliati and Marc-Andre Cliche, the Maineiacs fell to the Moncton Wildcats 9-8 in a shootout Wednesday night at the Moncton Coliseum. The game was the first of a three-games-in-three-nights set for the traveling Maineiacs, and was the second game in a row in which the team blew a third-period lead.

“For sure it’s hard to be on the road for 10 days at a time,” said Jodoin. “This was just one of those games where you say to yourself, ‘What the hell are we doing?’ It was like a poker game. We just kept gambling and gambling. And losing.”

The see-saw battle started from the opening period, which Moncton led 3-2 after a goal in the final minute.

In the second, Giliati tallied a short-handed goal, and Simon Courcelles potted his third of the season to put Lewiston ahead 4-3. Matt Marquardt tied the game up at five, and Stefan Chaput continued his hot hand with a goal to put the Maineiacs back ahead, 5-4.

In the third, Moncton again took the lead, getting scores from Igor Vorosholov and Roopertti Martikainen.

Perron potted his second of the night to tie the game, Moncton took the lead with less than five minutes to play, and then Lewiston delivered what it figured would be the final salvo – two goals in the final three minutes.

“I thought it was finally over there,” said Jodoin.

But Moncton pulled its goaltender, and pushed its eighth goal past beleaguered netminder Jonathan Bernier to force a shootout.

Jerome Samson potted the only goal of the shootout to lift the Wildcats to their second shootout win over the Maineiacs this season.

The Maineiacs will face Halifax tonight and Cape Breton on Friday night before returning to Halifax for a Sunday matinee.