Stefan Chaput got the rare luxury of shooting last in a shootout on the road Friday night.

He made the most of it.

Chaput triple-deked Moncton goalie Nicola Riopel and slid the puck into the net on his forehand on Lewiston’s third shootout attempt to lift the visiting Maineiacs to a 3-2 win over the Wildcats at the Moncton Coliseum.

“I hadn’t used him the last few times, and in my mind, I knew the next time we got into one, I wanted to use him,” Maineiacs’ head coach Ed Harding said. “Today was the time, and I think the next time we have a shootout, you’re going to see him out there again.”

Chaput celebrated by thumping the Moncton logo at center ice with his glove, causing a commotion on the ice following the game, but officials defused the situation quickly.

Chaput’s goal ended another one-goal contest between the two teams, the sixth such contest in eight games this season, and the third ending in a shootout.

“They’re a good team,” Harding said. “That’s about as simple as I can make it.”

Marc Bourgeois and Chris Tutalo had goals for Lewiston, while Matt Eagles had both goals for Moncton.

In the playoff picture, Lewiston earned two more points to make it to 70 on the season, but Acadie-Bathurst continued on its late-season tear with a 7-1 win over Saint John. The Titan remain one point ahead of Lewiston for the fourth and final home-ice position in the Eastern Division. Cape Breton was coming off a 5-1 win over Halifax, while Bathurst had defeated the St. John’s Fog Devils in a shootout Thursday.

Saint John leads the East with 78 points, followed by Halifax with 77, Cape Breton with 76 and Bathurst at 71, one ahead of Lewiston.

“I actually kind of happy Bathurst won tonight, to tighten things right up,” Harding said. “It’s a heck of a race right now.”

Moncton took advantage of a Maineiacs’ mistake late in the first to take a 1-0 lead at the first break. Tutalo converted at 1:06 of the second to even things up, and Bourgeois followed at 2:49 on a feed from Tutalo to make it 2-1 Lewiston.

“We really took it to them in the second, third and overtime,” Harding said. “I was happy with the way we played, especially on the penalty kill. Penalty-killing takes a lot of heart.”

The Wildcats evened things up at 18:13 of the second on Eagles’ second of the night, and both goaltenders held down the fort the rest of the way.

Lewiston concludes its brief, two-game trip on Sunday in Saint John, New Brunswick, with a 3 p.m. matinee against the Sea Dogs.

NOTES: Harding will serve a one-game suspension Sunday, punishment handed down from the league office late Friday for Harding’s “inappropriate behavior toward league officials” following a game last week against Acadie-Bathurst … Maineiacs’ forward Danick Paquette will also miss Sunday’s game, serving the second game of a two-game suspension following his actions in last Saturday’s game against the Titan that resulted in an aggressor penalty and game ejection.