The Lewiston Maineiacs have plenty of options for gifts they want from Santa Claus next week. At the top of the list will likely be some wins.

Of course, finishing the unofficial first half of the season on the road against the top team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League didn’t help matters much, either.

Moncton scored a pair of power-play goals in the first four minutes and held the Maineiacs at arms’ length the rest of the way, skating into the holiday break with a 3-2 victory over Lewiston at the Moncton Coliseum on Friday.

“We dug ourselves into a pretty good hole,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “We spent a lot of man hours on the Moncton power play, and I was very disappointed with that. But we spoke about leadership between the first and second, and between the second and third periods, and I think we responded well.”

Lewiston (12-24) lost three of its last four games leading up to the break, the lone win coming last Sunday against basement-dwelling Val d’Or.

Saturday marks the beginning of the league’s mid-season trade period, so it’s possible that some players have played their final game for the Maineiacs.

“I’ve been really impressed with the play of our young players,” Harding said, shirking the question a bit. “They’ve played in a lot of key situations for us, and that’s a very positive thing for this organization.”

Lewiston’s game plan against the Wildcats worked well at even-strength in the first, but Moncton showed off its highly-ranked power-play units to take a 2-0 lead after the first period.

Simon Jodoin put the host team on top after an early penalty to Dany Coulombe, and Scott Brannon potted his 19th of the season minutes later with Etienne Brodeur in the penalty box.

The Maineiacs played evenly with the Wildcats for the final 16 minutes of the opening frame, and nearly caught up to Moncton in the shots department. Moncton outshot Lewiston 13-12 in the first, and Peter Delmas stopped 11 pucks.

“I think he’d tell you he’d like to have the second one back,” Harding said, “but he did some good things. We sat down and had a chat with Peter before the game, and we wanted to know where he was at mentally.”

Lewiston had the better of the Wildcats in the early part of the second period, but Randy Cameron struck for the Eagles late in the frame to put his team on top by three.

Brodeur atoned for his earlier penalty before the second period expired, slipping the puck past goalie Nicola Riopel to put the Maineiacs on the board.

Brodeur earned his second of the game early in the third, to pull Lewiston within one at 3-2, but even with the goalie pulled at the end of the game, the Maineiacs couldn’t solve Riopel again.

The Maineiacs return to the ice Saturday, Dec. 27 at Victoriaville, and next skate at home on Dec. 29-30 against Gatineau.