The Lewiston Maineiacs set another milestone Sunday, but it’s one the staff could probably have lived without.

For just the second time this season, the Maineiacs have lost three games in a row, falling 6-2 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre in Bathurst, New Brunswick.

“They scored more than half of their goals on the power play,” said Maineiacs’ assistant coach Ed Harding, who is filling in at the helm in head coach Clem Jodoin’s absence. “Our guys knew that, it was part of our game plan to stay out of the box, but we weren’t very bright.”

The Titan, fresh off a stinging 6-5 loss to Quebec (after blowing a 5-3 lead late in the third period), capitalized four times on their league-leading power play on just six attempts.

“The bottom line is that we got out-special-teamed,” said Harding. “We played a pretty good game 5-on-5, it was a 2-2 hockey game, and we held them to just 29 shots on goal.”

Thomas Beauregard, who reached the 40-goal plateau in Game 33 of the season the other night for the Titan, netted his 41st and 42nd of the season as part of a four-point night, joining linemate Jordan Clendenning (1 G, 3 A).

“He’s a good, solid hockey player at 20-years-old,” said Harding.

The loss is the second consecutive in regulation for the Maineiacs and third overall since they won 13 in a row. According to the coaching staff, the teams appears to be lacking the same confidence that propelled it to the top of the standings just two weeks ago.

“I hope they’re feeling down about this,” Harding said of his players.

The Titan weathered an early offensive by Lewiston and struck with that lethal power play late in the first to take a 1-0 lead into the first break.

Mathieu Labrie scored the goal on a shot through traffic in front of Maineiacs’ backup goalie Peter Delmas, who will replace regular starter Jonathan Bernier as long as Bernier is out with the Canadian World Junior team.

Lewiston had nearly taken a 1-0 lead 10 minutes earlier, but Pierre-Luc Faubert’s tip attempt on a shot from the point hit the crossbar.

“It would have been nice to capitalize on that,” said Harding. “I don’t know that we had any quality chances on that 5-on-3 opportunity either. We have to learn to put the puck on the net if we want to score more goals.”

The Titan emerged with a 4-1 lead after the second frame thanks to an early flurry that saw the teams trade goals in a 1:33 span early in the period.

Dany Masse made it 2-0 for the Titan at 3:29. David Perron potted his 20th of the season at 4:51 to pull Lewiston back to within one, only to watch as Beauregard netted No. 41 on a feed from Mathieu Carle at 5:02.

Maxime Pomerleau made it 4-1 at 17:18 of the period, and Clendenning and Bearegard struck early in the third to build the Titan’s lead to 6-1.

Marc-Andre Daneau completed the scoring at 16:11 of the third with his 12th for the Maineiacs, who will next play Tuesday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee against the cellar-dwelling Saint John Sea Dogs at 7 p.m.

Copy the Story Link