LEWISTON – The offense continued to sputter, the power play remained futile, and the Lewiston Maineiacs limped out of the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday night after being shut out for the second time this season, by a goaltender who recorded just one previous shutout in two and a half seasons.

Ned O’Brien and Chad Earle netted goals in the first period, and Yetman held the fort the rest of the way as the Halifax Mooseheads downed the Maineiacs 2-0 in front of 2,209 Friday.

“(The Maineiacs) obviously didn’t have their best start of the year, and we were fortunate to get a couple of goals early,” Halifax coach Cam Russell said. “Lewiston played harder as the game wore on.”

Yetman’s last shutout came on Feb. 2, 2007 in a 4-0 win over Drummondville at the Halifax Metro Centre, and was carrying a lofty 3.78 goals-against average and an .854 save percentage into Friday’s game.

“I think (the stats) are spruced up a bit after that one,” Yetman said with a smile.

Though he faced more shots in the second (19), Yetman played his best in the third period, killing the Maineiacs’ chances of a comeback with a couple of solid glove saves from in tight.

“As the game wore on, he made some big saves,” Russell said. “I thought Lewiston played much harder as the game went on, and Yetman was there when we needed him.”

“They had a lot of shots, but a lot of them came from the outside,” Yetman said. “As a goalie, I like to see a lot of hots, it keeps me in the game.”

It wasn’t like Lewiston didn’t generate chances, either. The Maineiacs were faster to the puck all night, and could skate circles around the Halifax defensemen. But their passes were off-target, pucks bounced over sticks, and juicy rebounds went untouched.

“We put the puck to the net and got to a few rebounds,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “I thought there were a few rebounds we didn’t pounce on, and we probably could have had some more shots. (Yetman) made some good stops, obviously.”

The Lewiston power play bore a new look, too, with hulking defenseman Denis Reul parked in the low slot screening Yetman and speedy forward Max Gratchev at the point.

“I thought we did a better job on our power play,” Harding said. “The boys, they played hard, they put it on the line. You have to take some positives out of it.”

The Mooseheads struck for what ended up being the only goal they’d need early in the first. O’Brien fired the puck past Lewiston keeper Philip Wright on a long rebound after a shot by Justin Pender on the power play.

Wright surrendered the second Halifax goal 3:57 later when Earle sniped the top corner to finish a two-on-one break just as a Maineiacs power play expired.

Halifax barely sniffed the net after that. The Mooseheads outshot Lewiston 10-0 to begin the game, and mustered just nine shots the rest of the way.

“There’s two games now where we’ve given up 19 and 20 shots,” Harding said. “I’m happy as far as that’s concerned. I don’t know if we can do much more except put a few pucks in the net. We have to have some patience. We can’t panic. We have some new guys, playing some significant roles, and we’re getting contributions from everybody.”

On the other end, Lewiston threw everything it could at Yetman, and couldn’t convert.

The Maineiacs will play at home again Saturday night, hosting the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at 7 p.m.