LEWISTON – There were no kitchen sinks for the Lewiston Maineiacs to launch at Timo Pielmeier on Friday. Maybe they should have tried a bench.

Pielmeier, in his first game back in almost two weeks, stopped 37 shots, including 18 in the third period, to lead the St. John’s Fog Devils to a 2-1 win over Lewiston in front of 3,502 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“When you don’t play three games in a row, you’re really pumped to play again,” Pielmeier said. “You want to show the team you can still win, it doesn’t matter if you are injured or not.”

The loss is the Maineiacs’ first on their four-game homestand, and it dealt them a serious blow in their efforts to chase down Cape Breton and keep up with Acadie-Bathurst in the playoff positioning battle.

“We did some things today that I’ve never seen this team do,” Maineiacs’ head coach Ed Harding said. “I can’t explain it. We had some character and emotion in the third period, but … why’d we wait?”

The Maineiacs started slowly, too. They found their footing in the third, but by then, the German-born Pielmeier was back in his groove.

“We realized we didn’t play well in the first two periods and we came back strong in the third,” Maineiacs’ forward Stefan Chaput said. “(Pielmeier) was everywhere, though. He’s a good goalie anyway, and he had a great game.

“I thought he had a slow start,” Paiement said. “But as the game went on he found his footing.”

Lewiston’s own German-born player, Denis Reul, was the story of the first period, and unfortunately for him, not in a good way. He gave the puck away behind his own net, setting up the Fog Devils’ first goal at 6:33 of the first.

MacDougall found Wesley Welcher in front, who buried the puck past Bernier.

Later, Reul pinched into the Fog Devils’ zone and laid a solid hit into a St. John’s forward. But that allowed T.J. Brennan loose behind him on a 2-on-1. Brennan elected to shoot instead of passing to Samuel Grenache and beat Bernier’s 5-hole with a blast from 35 feet.

“You can say he was involved in those plays,” Harding said, “but he wasn’t the only one. The way we play hockey, one thing leads to another, leads to another.”

Bernier, meanwhile, felt the second goal was on him.

“I need to stop that one,” Bernier said. “I know the shots was low, but I can’t give up a goal five-hole like that.”

Neither team found the back of the net in the second, though it wasn’t for a lack of chances. Bernier came up solid in the second for the Maineiacs, with 10 saves. On the other end, Pielmeier again showed Lewiston fans why he’s an NHL-drafted goalie, too, stopping three Lewiston breakaways and a 2-on-1 short-handed chance by Stefan Chaput.

The Maineiacs’ problem continued to be the lack of shooting lanes. The Fog Devils blocked numerous shots, and picked off passes across the slot.

And don’t look now, but the Fog Devils are on the Maineiacs’ tail in the Eastern Division. With the win, St. John’s is just four points back of the Maineiacs for fifth place. Acadie-Bathurst destroyed Halifax 9-3 Friday to pull into fourth by itself and climb back to within two of Cape Breton for third.

Lewiston again hosts St. John’s on Sunday at 4 p.m.