See-saw battles are fine by all accounts, especially when it’s your team that scores the final goal.

Taking a cue from teammate Max Gratchev, who notched a hat trick in a Lewiston Maineiacs’ victory Friday, Danick Paquette scored three of his own – all in the third period – to lead the Maineiacs to a 4-2 win over Val d’Or in front of 1,847 at the Centre Air Creebec on Saturday.

“We were a bit concerned before the game because some of the guys didn’t seem to be focused,” Lewiston coach Don MacAdam said. “We had a little chat, and we were good to go. To go from no wins in 11 games on the road to two in a row is something special for these boys, and I give them full marks for the way they played.”

The win is Lewiston’s second in a row, just the third time this year the team has won back-to-back games.

And the final score – with six total goals scored – lends no credence to the defensive battle the teams waged for the better part of the first two periods. Lewiston and Val d’Or were scoreless through 40 minutes.

“Our second guy wasn’t going to the net hard enough in those first two periods,” MacAdam said.

Then, the teeter-tottering began.

Paquette cracked Val d’Or keeper Rafael d’Orso’s armor and gave the Maineiacs a 1-0 lead at 3:17 of the third period, stuffing home a loose rebound to the confused goalkeeper’s right side.

The Foreurs struck right back when Kevin Guerette-Charland beat Lemay just 40 seconds later with a wrister from the right side circle.

Paquette potted his second of the game, capping a rush up the right side with his 22nd of the year at 15:50 on a feed from Pier-Olivier Morin. Alexandre Monahan evened things back up at 18:24 with a nifty finish on a feed cross-ice from Boston Bruins’ prospect Maxime Sauve.

Dominic Savoie scored the game-winner at 19:29 on a slick feed from Nick Huard, and Paquette sealed his hat trick into an empty net in the waning seconds.

“One thing that has to happen if you’re going to win, is that your best players need to be your best players out there,” MacAdam said.

Despite playing its second game in as many night more than 12 hours from home, Lewiston had the upper hand from the drop of the puck. The Maineiacs pinned the Foreurs deep for long stretches all period, even on the penalty-kill.

Val d’Or did get a few good chances against Lemay early, but the 19-year-old turned them all aside to preserve the 0-0 deadlock.

Lewiston outshot Val d’Or 14-5 in the opening frame.

The Foreurs rallied in the second, and spent much of the middle frame in the Maineiacs’ end, peppering Lemay with 20 shots. But the Maineiacs’ keeper stopped them all.

“From the day I got here, I thought we had two pretty good goaltenders,” MacAdam said. “(Lemay) was excellent all night. One thing both goalies did this weekend, when the games were on the line, they stood tall and made the big saves.”

Lewiston also spent six minutes of the second period shorthanded, leading to a number of Val d’Or opportunities.