LEWISTON – It’s not that Quebec City is that far – just a shade over five hours, driving straight through.

Nor is Chicoutimi far from Quebec, maybe another two hours on the road.

It’s that third day – and a trip to Baie-Comeau – that enticed the Lewiston Maineiacs to take off Thursday, a day earlier than normal for the short bus ride to Quebec.

“We do things differently, depending on the situation,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “With the three-in-three, it was probably better to go up earlier.”

Lewiston is building on a stretch of well-played games, despite being just 1-1-2.

“We’ve had a good couple of game putting us into this road trip,” Lewiston forward Chris Tutalo said. “We have a lot to look forward to there.”

The Maineiacs are making their second three-games-in-three-nights trek of the season this weekend, with stops in Quebec against the Remparts, in Chicoutimi against the Sagueneens and in Baie-Comeau against the Drakkar.

“Quebec and Chicoutimi are big buildings, and they fill them up pretty good,” Maineiacs’ goalie Peter Delmas said. “Baie-Comeau is just crazy.”

The team took two of three on its last three-in-three, losing at Gatineau before earning wins at Drummondville and Shawinigan. This time, though, the competition is much, much better.

“We need to stay together as a team on this trip,” Delmas said. “We need to backcheck hard and stay out of the box.”

Delmas will see the cage tonight in Quebec, giving way to Jonathan Bernier on Saturday.

The Remparts earned a win over Lewiston back on Dec. 7, and Chicoutimi won 5-3 in October.

Baie-Comeau, meanwhile, is coming into town next Friday. The Drakkar made several moves during the holiday trade period and are looking to make a run at the league title this year. They also play in one of the toughest arenas in the league, and Lewiston will be seeing them on the third day. Lewiston is 4-4 all time at the Centre Henry-Leonard, but just 1-3 in the last four visits. Baie-Comeau has outscored Lewiston 21-10 in those four games, which included a 4-2 Maineiacs victory.

In another odd twist, Lewiston will play two games at 4 p.m., with the game against Chicoutimi scheduled at 4, as well as the traditional 4 p.m. Sunday start in Baie-Comeau.

“That might help us a bit in terms of recovery,” Harding said. “We’ll be getting into Baie-Comeau just after they finish playing in their game Saturday night.”

Tonight’s contest begins at 7.

Note: Goaltender Kirk Rafuse returned to his Junior A team in Truro on Thursday, only to find that he’d been traded within that league to Halifax. Rafuse will spend the rest of the season in the Maritime Junior A league, barring injury to either Delmas or Bernier.