LEWISTON – Denis Reul has been called a lot of things.

Big, hulking, menacing and solid all come to mind.

He added another descriptor to his biography this week: Power play forward.

Looking for something – anything – to spark his struggling power play, Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding pulled a page out of the team’s archived playbook, inserting Reul into the wing position on the No. 1 unit with instructions to camp out in front of the opposing goaltender and provide a screen.

The move also allowed Harding to plant Max Gratchev, a gifted playmaker, on the point during man-advantage situations.

Early results were mixed. In Friday night’s game, the unit managed many more shots on goal than it has in recent games. It still didn’t score.

“We generated plenty of shots, though,” Harding said. “Now we have to learn where to shoot. Too many shots were high and getting blocked or deflected by sticks and bodies.”

Pink in the rink

On their way onto the rink at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday night, the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies almost fell over one another as they all turned to look at the Maineiacs warming up in their own end.

The Maineiacs each carried – and used – a pink stick, provided by Easton, as part of the team’s Breast Cancer Awareness night.

Coaches all wore pink ribbon lapel pins, and the players each sported a pink ribbon sticker on their helmets.

In Halifax next week, a similar promotion will see the Mooseheads players wear actual pink jerseys for the same cause.

Racking them up

Lewiston’s offense has struggled, and the power play is starting to come around – in practice anyway, if not in results.

But there is one statistical category in which Lewiston holds the outright league lead, and by a hefty margin – penalty minutes.

Lewiston’s 251 penalty minutes before the start of Saturday’s game were 12 more than Saint John, the second-most penalized team in the league.

Among the least? No. 1 Quebec, which has earned just 151 on the season in 12 games, exactly 100 fewer than the Maineiacs.

Still unbeaten

With a win Saturday afternoon in overtime, the Moncton Wildcats remained undefeated in regulation time, moving their record to a surprising 11-0-2 in 13 games. Part of the reason has been the play of goaltender Nicola Riopel. The keeper had a .900 save percentage and a 1.59 GAA going into Saturday’s game against Chicoutimi. He won that game, allowing just one goal on 34 shots in more than 62 minutes of play, which will lower his numbers even more.