Defensively, there wasn’t much going wrong for the Lewiston Maineiacs on Thursday.

They held Saint John to 20 shots on goal, including just three in the second period. They killed eight Sea Dogs’ power play chances, and they spent the majority of the time breaking up play through center zone and turning things back over to the offense.

Which did nothing with the chances it was handed.

Robert Mayer stopped 26 of 27 shots – including a bevy of chances late in the third period – to lead Saint John to a 3-1 win over visiting Lewiston in front of 2,761 at Harbour Station on Thursday, handing the Maineiacs their second loss in three games.

Mayer was busy late, as the Maineiacs pulled the goalie with a two-man advantage to create a timely 6-on-3. They still couldn’t put the puck away.

On the other end, Peter Delmas started strong for the visitors, turning aside all nine pucks he saw in the first 20 minutes as the Maineiacs built a 1-0 lead.

“For the first 10 minutes, we played fantastic,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “We came out, the game plan was perfect, and then we took a couple of penalties, and a couple of them weren’t very good penalties.”

But the embattled Lewiston keeper allowed a pair of goals less than two minutes apart in the middle part of the second, a period during which the Maineiacs allowed just three shots.

In the third, the Sea Dogs slipped another one by Delmas, ending his night after three goals allowed on 16 shots. “Their third goal was obviously a big goal for them,” Harding said. “I’m not even going to get into it.”

The Maineiacs have one more game before breaking for the holidays, a 6 p.m. matchup Friday night at Moncton.