LEWISTON – Off the glass, off the goalie’s back, off a teammate’s stick blade, nothing but net.

Gatineau scored one of the more inventive goals of the season late in the second period Monday, a goal that ultimately defeated the Lewiston Maineiacs in their first game back home after the Christmas break.

Jean-Philip Chabot potted a pair of goals – including that wacky tally in the second – and Maxime Clermont made 22 saves to lead the Olympiques to a 5-4 win over the Maineiacs in front of 2,125 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Chabot’s second goal of the middle frame came off a blast from the top of the slot by defenseman Alain Goulet. His shot smacked the glass behind Lewiston keeper Peter Delmas and ricocheted hard back toward the crease. The puck hit Delmas, fell into the crease behind him, and Chabot tapped the puck over the line.

“We got a little bit lucky,” Dupont said. “It was a sloppy game, but we’re happy to come out with the two points.”

Delmas saw just 14 shots on the night in the loss, his 20th of the season, and was yanked after the Olympiques’ fifth tally.

“We need to have better goaltending,” Lewiston coach Ed Harding said. “We’re not here to crucify kids, we’re here to develop them, and we’re trying as hard as we can to help Peter through this. We need to figure out what the problem is.”

On the other end, Max Gratchev, Alex Beaton and Eric Gelinas scored for Lewiston, which has lost both games since coming back from break. The Olympiques, meanwhile, won their second game in as many tries.

All three Lewiston goals came on the power play, from which the home team benefitted nine times during the contest to Gatineau’s four.

“I thought we didn’t move the puck well early, but it got better as the game went on,” Harding said.

Gatineau and Lewiston played a see-saw first period. The Olympiques drew first blood, and early, getting an even-strength tally from Mitchell Porowski just 3:38 into the game. The goal was Porowski’s first of the season.

Lewiston struck back on a five-minute power play at 7:08 after a kneeing penalty to Steven Delisle. Max Gratchev lofted a wrister toward the net from the top of the slot that hit Marc-Antoine Gelinas and popped into the air over the netminder and into the net.

The Olympiques reclaimed the lead at 14:54 on their first power play of the game, a rebound goal from the right post by Alexandre Touchette.

Gatineau tallied another pair of goals in the second and took a 4-2 advantage into the third.

Jean-Philip Chabot earned both goals for the Olympiques, the first coming at even strength at 11:35 on a rebound to the left of Delmas, and the second coming on that funny hop off the glass behind Delmas on a Gatineau power play at 16:54.

“That one aside, there were a couple early on rebounds that needed to be gobbled up,” Harding said. “The first one, even though it was on a breakaway, that needed to be stopped.”

The Maineiacs scored one, too, a Gelinas blast from the right point on the power play at 13:58, to keep within striking distance.

After a power play goal from Beaton at 10:06 of the third again pulled the Maineiacs within one, Joshua Domingues added the fifth Gatineau goal at 11:25 on long shot that eluded Delmas, who was then pulled for Philip Wright (4 shots, 4 saves).

Danick Paquette buried a rebound goal with 10 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.

The Maineiacs and Olympiques will face off again Tuesday night at the Colisee.