LEWISTON – Call it rust, cobwebs, or any other synonym for slow play following a break. Lewiston had it Thursday.

Moncton did, too, for a while, but the Wildcats shook off enough of it to outplay Lewiston and earn their first win in Lewiston this season.

Matt Eagles and Adam Bezak had a pair of assists each, and Nicola Ripoel made 22 saves on 23 shots to lead Moncton to a 3-1 win over Lewiston in front of 3,039 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“We were flat, and I’ll take the blame for that,” Lewiston head coach Ed Harding said. “We weren’t ready, and I’ll address that (today).”

“They came out harder, and we were sloppy,” Maineiacs’ forward Stefan Chaput said. “We didn’t shoot the puck on net until the third period, and we won’t win hockey games like that.”

Moncton, meanwhile, battled through their own cobwebs, but managed to pull together early with a pair of power play goals.

“I thought our team did a great job of playing well and playing hard. We played these guys pretty tough the last couple of games,” Moncton coach Danny Flynn said. “We felt we had a great game here last time in and lost by a goal and lost a shootout in our building. Tonight, we got some bounces, we got the power play goals, and we’re thrilled we got our two points here.”

The rust didn’t appear early. Lewiston took it to Moncton early in the first, controlling play for the better part of five minutes inside the Wildcats’ zone.

But at 6:27, with Moncton on its only power play of the opening frame, Jesse Biduke picked off the puck in the Lewiston zone and snapped a shot through the screen of a Maineiacs defender and past goalie Peter Delmas to put the visitors ahead, 1-0.

Matt Bourdeau had a chance just 33 seconds later to even things up after being awarded a penalty shot, but he hit Riopel with his snapper from 10 feet out.

For the rest of the period, Lewiston and Moncton looked out of sorts. Neither team generated much offense, nor could they when they tried.

The second wasn’t any better, at least not for Lewiston. The Wildcats dominated time of possession, and added another goal to their coffers to put a bit of distance between themselves and the Maineiacs.

Randy Cameron banged home a rebound on the goal line after an Adam Bezak shot snuck through Delmas’ pads and sat up in the crease for him at the 8:20 mark of the middle frame, putting Moncton ahead, 2-0.

Lewiston managed just six shots in Riopel after just seven in the first while allowing Moncton to fire 14 pucks at Delmas in the second period alone.

In the third, the crowd got back into the game. After another lull early, Lewiston started applying pressure, and Danick Paquette sent Joseph Tolles through the boards and into the concourse with a solid hit. Stefano Giliati then pulled Lewiston back to within one with a shorthanded tally, his first of the season, at 8:23.

“You’re down 2-0, you have to start putting some pucks on the net,” Harding said. “It all came together, Danick got the big hit, Giliati got the fluke goal, and we started to generate some offense.”

Then, Lucas Labelle tried to pick a fight with Chris Morehouse, who the Maineiacs believe cheap-shotted Giliati, and took a five-minute major. The Wildcats scored on a 4-on-4 during that five-minute penalty to seal the game.