HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – The camouflage helmet looked good on Stefan Chaput. It nearly swallowed his head, though, riding low around his ears when he emerged from the locker room following the Lewiston Maineiacs’ 4-3 victory Tuesday over the Halifax Mooseheads.
And no, the Lewiston Maineiacs’ forward hadn’t enlisted in the Canadian Army.
Instead, he scored twice in the third period to push his team to a critical Game 3 triumph over the Mooseheads – his third and fourth goals in the last two games.
And all it took was a fluke to get it started.
Chaput didn’t score against Shawinigan in the first round, playing in all four games after coming back from a concussion, but in a diminished role.
He didn’t score in Game 1 against Halifax, either, though he certainly had chances, playing on a line with Eric Castonguay and consummate grinder Marc-Andre Daneau.
“We’ve really been working well down low, on the cycle, and we pass well together,” Chaput said. “Daneau does a great job grinding down low, and Casto has been making great passes.”
Things changed in Game 2, when a shot popped off of his stick, hit a Halifax stick and rainbowed in over netminder Roger Kennedy.
“I had to fight not to touch it with a high stick,” Chaput recalled. “It was a bit lucky, I guess.”
Chaput added an empty-netter in the Maineiacs’ 4-1 win.
On Tuesday, he again had chances early. But Chaput, whose first goal as a Maineiac came in overtime in his first game, had more dramatics up his sleeve Tuesday night in Game 3.
Early in the third, with Lewiston again facing a last-period deficit, Chaput scored an improbable goal after catching the puck in midair and floating the puck over the Halifax goalie’s shoulder.
Chaput again attributed the goal to luck.
But this time, he was being modest. A laser of a wrist shot to the top-right corner of the net is rarely luck. And his second of the night came on a stick fake and slide-step move to his right on a 1-on-0.
Again, no luck involved.
What Chaput’s emergence as a goal-scorer has done for Lewiston is give the team a third scoring threat. It has also put him in third place on the team in points in the playoffs with five.
“It’s just hard work, I guess,” Chaput said. “It was hard the first round, but it feels good to score again.”
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