LEWISTON – Eighteen games remain in the Lewiston Maineiacs’ regular season, and they’ll play nearly a quarter of them over the next five days.

The Maineiacs hit the road this week for a four-games-in-five-nights road trip through Atlantic Canada, starting tonight with a game in Halifax.

“Every team has to do this,” Maineiac’ coach Ed Harding said. “We’re not going to sit here and moan and cry about it. It’s been on the schedule for a long time. We’ll worry about Halifax for (tonight), and the rest of them after that.”

The Mooseheads sit in second place in the Eastern Division, three points behind Saint John and seven ahead of fourth-place Lewiston. The Maineiacs are coming off an impressive home win against the Sea Dogs, one of just two losses they’d suffered in their last 11 games.

Harding believes that the game against Saint John will be helpful tonight.

“Saint John is not dissimilar from Halifax,” Harding said. “They’re very, very similar. The game plan will be alike. There are a few different things we’ll have to do with Halifax. Their special teams are a bit different.”

The last time Lewiston hit the road, they followed an emotional win in Cape Breton with a stinker of a loss in Moncton. This time, it’s not the second game that worries Harding so much as the third.

“Concerning a letdown, I’m really worried about Saturday’s game,” Harding said. “We have a day off in between Halifax and Moncton, which gives us a chance to regroup a bit. It’s a physical thing, but it’s a mental thing, too. We have to be prepared for three teams in a short amount of time.”

After Halifax tonight and Moncton on Friday, the Maineiacs travel to Prince Edward Island for a pair of games Saturday and Sunday.

Paquette named player of the week

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League awarded its offensive player of the week honors this week to Maineiacs’ forward Danick Paquette. In two games, Paquette had four goals and an assist. In an 8-3 win over Drummondville last Wednesday, Paquette collected a hat trick in the third period, and finished off a Gordie Howe hat trick, too, with an assist and a fight to go along with his three goals.

“I really like the fact that in the last couple of games, we’ve shown a killer instinct,” Harding said. “We’re shooting the puck on net. If we can keep getting up around that 40 range, in the 30s, we have a good chance of winning the game.”