LEWISTON – The special teams woes continued for Rouyn-Noranda early in Saturday night’s game.

Twenty-four hours after putting up goose eggs on five power-play opportunities in Game 1, the Huskies found themselves trailing 3-0 less than halfway through the opening period of Game 2.

The two goals scored by the Maineiacs power-play unit and one deposited by their penalty kill came efficiently quick.

Yes, the Maineiacs dominated every phase of Saturday’s 7-4 victory, except for a few minutes in the third period when the Huskies cut the four-goal deficit in half.

But it was special teams that proved to be the difference. Rouyn-Noranda was 3-of-10 with a man advantage, but two of those goals came in the final period with the Maineiacs already thinking about the bus ride for Game 3.

The Maineiacs meanwhile went 3 of 6 and nearly had two more.

The power-play unit goals came with relative ease. Less than two minutes in, Stefano Giliati flipped a rebound past starting netminder Jean-Phillippe Levasseur.

Moments later, with his team down a man, Sebastien Piche stole an errant Huskies pass just outside the visitors’ blue line. He promptly skated in and sent a short-side wrister past Levasseur.

The second power-play goal came on another rebound and put the Maineiacs up 3-0. This time, it was Pierre-Luc Faubert sneaking the puck past Levasseur.

Two power-play chances, two quick scores, sandwiched around one with a man down. The special-teams hole was dug for Rouyn-Noranda coach Andre Tourigny and his team.

“They scored on their power play and they scored on our power play,” said Tourigny, whose team faces an uphill climb from an 0-and-2 deficit heading back home.

“It’s a tough situation (with their power play). They’re everywhere, there are seven players on the ice,” he joked. “Hopefully they won’t have another night like that.”

Not until Justin Munden banged home a second-chance opportunity on a man advantage with 16:56 left in the middle period, did the Huskies find any magic on their power play. By then it was 4-1.

The Huskies missed a great chance in that middle period. With the momentum from Munden’s first goal, they found themselves on a 5-on-3 advantage for 1 minute, 33 seconds. Two different power-play units took the ice for Tourigny in that time, but both came up harmlessly empty.

“There’s not much you can do on a 5-on-3, except play position and block as many shots as you can,” Faubert said. “It worked out well.”

It worked out even better for the home team. As the second Maineiacs penalty expired, Faubert collected a touch pass at his own blue line and raced down the ice. He snapped a shot past backup goalie Guillaume Blouin that was delivered like a devastating Joe Frazier left hook.

“I wanted to shoot a low shot and hope for a rebound,” said Faubert, who added a second power-play goal in the final period to complete his hat trick. “It just went in.”

“We played shorthanded,” added Lewiston coach Clem Jodoin. “But we had the killer at the right time.”

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