LEWISTON – Peter Delmas smiled as he walked out of the locker room Sunday. He was fresher than he has been after other games this season, and his step had more spring.

“It’s been a while since I had a night like this,” Delmas said. “It felt good.”

Delmas saw just nine shots through two periods Sunday and just 19 on the game as the Lewiston Maineiacs grinded out a 3-2 win over the visiting Moncton Wildcats in front of 2,220 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“At the beginning of the year I don’t think we were playing as a team as much as we are now,” Maineiacs’ defenseman Kevin Marshall said. “The fact that we have our older players back helps a lot, offensively and defensively, and it upgrades the play of everyone.”

Marshall had a goal and an assist in the big win, the Maineiacs’ third in a row after a 1-5 start. During that stretch, Lewiston’s opponents averaged 35.8 shots per game. The defense and the backchecking forwards were having a hard time containing opposing players in the center zone.

Since then, in the team’s three wins, Lewiston has allowed just 26.3 shots per game to reach Delmas.

The other key this weekend? The power play. Lewiston went 2-for-6 with an extra skater or two Sunday following a 1-for-5 night Friday. More important than the number of goals, though, is the number of quality chances the team has generated, and the time of possession.

“We played the system almost perfect,” Maineiacs’ head coach Ed Harding said. “The guys have bought into it, they understand it, and they know we can be successful if everyone is doing the same thing.”

The Maineiacs made sure to take advantage of a Moncton club that started hot – 5-1-1-1 in the first eight – but has since dropped three straight at the tail end of a long stretch of games. The Wildcats are young, and perhaps played a bit over their heads earlier this season.

“We’re doing a good job defensively, but again tonight we couldn’t score a goal at even-strength,” Moncton coach Danny Flynn said. “We’re learning on the job, you know.”

But no matter the teams’ standings, Lewiston fans have come to expect a tough, grinding game from Moncton. It was the Wildcats who last season handed Lewiston five of its 20 total losses.

“It’s a great rivalry,” Harding said. “We knew they were going to come in here and play tough. It was a great challenge to see how we matched up against them.”

Lewiston got on the board first on a 5-on-3 in the opening period. Stefano Giliati finished a tic-tac-toe passing play from Marshall and David Taylor to put the Maineiacs on top, 1-0.

Still on the power play, Lewiston struck again, this time with Marshall sliding it through Moncton rookie Charles Lavigne’s legs from the point on a screened shot.

Moncton got one back at 12:11 of the first when Matt Marquardt swiped the puck over the line on a tipped and deflected shot from the point.

“I could have been a bit more square of the puck,” Delmas admitted, “but at the same time, it was a weird bounce.”

No one scored again until late in the third, when Giliati fought his way into open ice and saucered the puck into an empty net to seemingly ice the game away.

But Moncton’s Randy Cameron made things tight again with 14 seconds to play on a chip-in from four feet out.

Lewiston held on, though, and earned the win.

“I told you this team would keep winning,” Delmas said. “There’s no stopping us right now.”

The Maineiacs next skate Friday at the Colisee against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at 7 p.m.