LEWISTON – They fired out of the gate. They scored first (and second), they scored on the power play (three times), and on the penalty kill. They sped up and down the ice, completed the majority of their first passes and ran their defensive system as a cohesive unit. There were even fights.

Most importantly, though, the Lewiston Maineiacs, in a tight race to make it into this year’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs, won. And they won big.

Pier-Olivier Morin scored twice and added two assists, Eric Gelinas and Alex Beaton each added a goal and a pair of helpers, and Peter Delmas made 30 saves on 32 shots as the Maineiacs trounced the Victoriaville Tigres 7-2 in front of 2,220 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday.

“We got the goaltending at the time of the game we needed it,” Maineiacs’ coach Don MacAdam said. “We had help from everybody. Our defense provided offense … and all four lines contributed. It’s a long season; we have a lot of hockey left and it’s nice when everybody contributes.”

Delmas was particularly solid in the first period, when the Tigres fired 16 pucks at the 18-year-old keeper. He stopped all but one.

“It helps to get into a rhythm to see a lot of pucks early,” Delmas said. “I actually prefer it that way.”

Beyond the first period, though, the Tigres didn’t test Delmas much.

“We played OK in the first period,” Victoriaville coach Yannick Jean said. “But we can’t play like we did in the third period of this game, especially in the first game of two in a row.”

Victoriaville was without starting netminder Kevin Poulin, and will be again Saturday night when the team’s meet again at the Colisee.

But Jean was quick to point out that backup Antonio Mastropietro shared the blame for the loss with everyone else on the team.

“He was part of the whole team that didn’t play well,” Jean said. “You can’t blame him for the loss.”

The Maineiacs fired the first shot in the scoring race just 5:31 into the game when defenseman Eric Gelinas took the puck coast to coast and fired a lazy wrister in on net as the forwards crashed the zone. The puck eluded Matsropietro low to his blocker side, grazed the right post and banked in.

Max Gratchev followed up with his 25th of the season 47 seconds later, banging home a rebound on the right post. At 12:13, David Cliche netted his 12th of the season, though, four seconds after the string of penalties expired to draw the Tigres within one.

Delmas stopped Olivier Hinse on a penalty shot attempt in the latter stages of the first, and Matsropietro did the same against Billy Lacasse to begin the second.

The Maineiacs had their chance in the second with an extended 5-on-3 after three consecutive penalties to Victoriaville, and Patrick Cusack held the Tigres accountable, floating a shot past Mastropietro through a crowd in front to net his third of the season, giving the Maineiacs a 3-1 lead.

Morin netted both of his goals in the third to go along with Beaton’s and a blast from Garrett Clarke. The Tigres scored on the power play with 43 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.