Peter Delmas started his 15th consecutive game for the Lewiston Maineiacs on Thursday night – his 27th overall – and still managed to achieve a first.

Delmas stopped 10 shots in the first period and saw just five more the rest of the way as a stingy Lewiston defense helped the rookie earn his first career QMJHL shutout in a 3-0 win over Gatineau at the Robert Guertin Centre in front of 2,753.

“He’s given us a chance to win in every game but one,” Maineiacs’ coach Clem Jodoin said of Delmas. “He played a great, great first period, and the team picked him up after that and played well defensively.”

The Maineiacs executed what Jodoin called an “almost perfect” road game. After benefiting from a couple of bounces in the first – Gatineau his three posts – Lewiston got three opportunistic goals and held the Olympiques, the second-place team in the Telus Division, to just one shot in the third period.

“It’s important to start a big road trip like this with a win,” Jodoin said. “If we go on the road and finish .500, we’re happy, so this was a very good start.”

Ryan Mior stopped 24 of 27 shots in the loss for Gatineau, its second to Lewiston in 11 days.

The win gives Lewiston 90 points through 62 games, and extends the Maineiacs’ cushion in the Eastern Division to four points over the idle Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Lewiston still holds a game in hand.

Jakub Bundil got things going for the Maineiacs just 2:22 into the game on his seventh goal of the year to put Lewiston ahead, 1-0.

Later, against the flow of play and on the heels of Delmas withstanding the most intense pressure he felt all night, Simon Courcelles picked the pocket of a Gatineau defenseman on the penalty kill and drove toward the net alone.

As Martin Frechette dove to try and reach Courcelles, the overage Lewiston forward lofted the puck past Mior to put the Maineiacs ahead by two.

“He got that one, and he missed two more,” Jodoin said. “He was very strong in this game.”

In a more balanced second frame, the fourth line struck again as Triston Manson converted a feed from David Taylor at 15:06 to increase the Maineiacs’ lead to 3-0.

“When you can get scoring balance, you know the team is working well together, showing chemistry,” Jodoin said. “It’s nice to watch.”

Lewiston plays again tonight, this time in Rouyn-Noranda, and concludes its three-games-in-three-nights trip in Val d’Or on Saturday.