LEWISTON – Denis Reul finally became the menace fans of the Lewiston Maineiacs have been hoping to see Saturday, and invoked the name of one of the legends of hockey in the process.

Reul fought for the first time in his hockey career, assisted on the Maineiacs’ first goal of the night, and scored one of his own in the third period to complete the famed Gordie Howe hat trick, giving fans gathered at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee plenty to cheer about.

“That was not normal for me,” Reul said. “That’s the first fight ever for me.”

It didn’t look like it. After Samuel Grenache took an extra jab at the towering German skater and clipped him in the face with his stick, Reul dropped his gloves.

Grenache did in kind, and the two danced for a moment before Reul landed a stunning blow to the head. The two lost their balance and fell to the ice, but Reul was up quickly to his knees, and landed several more blows to Grenache’s face before officials could step in.

Reul bloodied his knuckles. Grencahe left the game and after the contest had cotton sticking out from his nose.

“(Defenseman Charlie) Pens helped me out a bit,” Reul admitted.

The Maineiacs’ weren’t so fortunate Saturday. The Titan exacted a measure of revenge from the previous night and handed the Maineiacs a 5-4 loss in their second home exhibition game of the preseason.

The Titan jumped out quickly on a goal from Lucas Labelle, and made it 2-0 thanks to Cameron Critchlow’s first of the game.

Lewiston scored the next two, one at the end of the first period and another to begin the second, to knot the score. The teams traded goals again later in the second and started the third period knotted at three.

Lewiston took a 4-3 lead at 7:17 of the final frame on Reul’s goal. Grenache equalized at 9:46 of the period, and Critchlow potted the winner with 3:22 to play on a rebound to the left of Lewiston goalie Marc-Antoine Coulombe.

The Maineiacs will skate in double sessions all week this week, and will hit the ice in competition again Friday at the Colisee when they host the Saint John Sea Dogs.