It’s amazing what Danick Paquette can do, given a whole game with which to work.

The Lewiston Maineiacs’ captain, who has spent more than his fair share of time in the penalty box this season, unleashed some offensive firepower Saturday, scoring three goals and adding an assist to lead his team to a 5-3 win over Acadie-Bathurst in front of 1,802 at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre.

“He wants to do so well that he’s been holding onto the puck a bit too much,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “Tonight, he got rid of it, had a few shots, and it was obviously a great effort for him, and he should be happy. He really had a big hand in helping us win this hockey game.”

The win is the Maineiacs’ second in eight games and lifts the team’s record to 7-11 on the season.

“We’re real happy with the two points,” Harding said. “I think 95 percent of the game, we played pretty smart.”

Paquette, who has now scored five goals in his last three games, was a force all night. Reunited with Alex Beaton on the team’s top line, the 18-year-old earned an assist on Billy Lacasse’s go-ahead, power-play goal in the first period, a goal for which he was originally credited.

He got one of his own just 3:24 later to chase Bathurst starting goalie Nicolas Champion from the cage, and he added a second late in the middle period to push the Maineiacs’ lead to 4-1.

In the third, the Titan pushed back – hard.

Spencer Jezegou and Jonathan Lessard earned goals on two of the 18 shots Bathurst fired and Lewiston keeper Peter Delmas to cut the lead to 4-3.

“We turned the puck over with about two minutes to go at center ice,” Harding said. “We’ve got to learn to get that puck deep. We got stuck in our own zone, and they scored. We’ve got to learn how to put teams away. But again, it was a couple of young kids’ mistakes, and we’ll keep working on it.”

Paquette polished off the road victory with an empty-netter at the 19:12 mark for Lewiston, which plays its second game in less than 24 hours Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Charlottetown, PEI, against the Rocket.

“We’re not satisfied now,” Harding said. “This game’s over with, and we have a chance to have a very good road trip. We have to be ready to play (Sunday).”