LEWISTON – Danick Paquette isn’t anything if he isn’t flamboyant.

The Lewiston Maineiacs’ 18-year-old captain slipped the puck behind him, slid his stick backward through his legs and lifted the puck over Montreal Junior goaltender Jean-Sebastien Berube on his team’s third attempt in the shootout to lift his team to a 3-2 win over the Junior on Saturday.

“I practice that every day,” Paquette said of his move. “We have shootouts after practice, and I try that one all the time.”

Max Gratchev also scored in the shootout for Lewiston, which has earned seven points in its last 10 games.

“One of the things we felt as we got late in the game was that losing in overtime wasn’t acceptable,” Lewiston coach Don MacAdam said. “It was hard-fought tonight. We had excellent goaltending and our defense started moving the puck along better as the game went on, and it made a big difference.”

Peter Delmas made 33 saves on 35 shots for Lewiston, earning his second win in three games.

“I felt like I was in it right away,” Delmas said. “It was going to be one of those nights where I let in a bunch of soft goals, or I was going to get a shutout. I’m glad I got closer to a shutout.”

Montreal has now dropped three in a row and has slipped to third place in the Telus West division behind Gatineau and Rouyn-Noranda.

“It was better tonight, though,” Montreal coach Pascal Vincent said. “I felt we competed better in this game. We should probably have won the game, but when you run into a hot goaltender, what can you do?”

The best scoring chance for either team in the third period came with 1:30 remaining on the clock. First-round NHL draft pick Angelo Esposito snuck behind the Lewiston defense on a breakaway and tried to draw Delmas to the ground with a forehand deke. Delmas shot out his right pad and denied the Atlanta Thrashers’ prospect.

“I knew he was going to try to make a bunch of moves before he got to me,” Delmas said. “I just had to be patient, and I waited him out.”

In overtime, Lewiston had a few chances, mostly on tip-in opportunities in front, but this time, it was Berube standing tall.

The announced crowd of 2,803 at the Colisee on Saturday was the team’s best home crowd of the season, bettering the 2,645 who were here on opening night.

“It’s great when you hear them like that,” Delmas said.

Lewiston took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, thanks to rookie Etienne Brodeur’s ninth goal of the season. Brodeur took a slick backhand feed from Max Gratchev near the left post and lifted a sharp-angle shot between Berube and the right post.

“It was a great play by Billy (Lacasse) to get it in behind the net,” Gratchev said. “Brodeur got it to me back there, and I slipped it between the guy’s legs back to Broeur, who was all alone in front.”

The rest of the period sped by. Lewiston killed off a pair of Montreal power plays along the way, and Delmas held down the fort with 12 saves in the period.

The Junior evened things up at 5:22 of the second period when Guillaume Asselin found the 5-hole on Delmas from the right circle through a crowd of players in front.

The Maineiacs were dominant after that, and at 15:03 Dominic Savoie continued his strong play of late, netting his third goal and fifth point in January when he snapped a shot short side on Berube, beating the keeper high blocker.

The second period also stood out for its calm – officials didn’t whistle either team for a penalty in the middle frame.

Jeremy Gouchie knotted the game back up at 4:52 of the third period with a goal into as empty a net as he’ll ever see again. Delmas committed to a save at the top of the crease, but the puck deflected to his left, right onto Gouchie’s stick. the former Cape Breton Screaming Eagle forward made good on his gimme.