LEWISTON – Friday night the Lewiston Maineiacs proved they could win a playoff game without scoring on the power play which has now gone 0 for 23 in the postseason.

Now they either have to find a way to jump start the power play or somehow capture a playoff series without one.

A great deal of a power-play’s effectiveness comes from a team’s passing game. An efficient passing game just doesn’t consist of sending a puck along the ice. It’s about skating to an open passing lane, putting the puck so a teammate doesn’t break stride and being able to catch a pass clean.

Even the casual hockey fan can quickly see the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are a better passing team. Their passes are fundamentally sound. Not fancy, but effective.

Every one of their passes have a purpose, whether it’s starting a rush up the ice, a re-group at center ice or crisply moving the puck around the attacking zone on a power play.

The Maineiacs are not nearly as consistent with their passing game, but they capitalized for three goals with it Friday night.

There were no oohs and aahs coming from the crowd, no swelling of anticipation for a potential goal. But those three set ups certainly created excitement both with players and fans.

First up was Michael Ward’s feed to Stefano Giliati in the first period during a 4-on-4 situation. Ward stepped into the Screaming Eagles’ zone only to have the puck poked away. He quickly stole it back and drove the net. He then threaded a pass through a Cape Breton defensman’s legs that found the black of Giliati’s stick.

“My first option was to pass it to him,” said Ward. “When it through (the defenseman’s) legs, I guess I got lucky.

Usually we’re the kind of team that struggles to put the friggin puck in the net, but we executed tonight.”

In the second period, it was Patrick Cusack’s turn to ignite the offense and help give the home team a 3-1 cushion. Cusack stepped into an attacking lane in the high slot and rifled a shot on goal. While netminder Olivier Roy made the initial save, there was Marc Bourgeois to pound the rebound home.

Finally, Lucas LaBelle turned a Screaming Eagle turnover into a Matt Bourdeau one-timer from the slot, and the Maineiacs went up 4-1.

Just call the passing timely, but something that can’t take any longer if the Maineiacs hope to stave off playoff extinction is an effective power play.

“We try to do too much,” said Maineiac coach Ed Harding on his team’s power-play effectiveness. “We threw up another 0-fer. That still concerns me, but we played well 5-on-5 and 4-on-4.