LEWISTON – Slow and steady won the race for Lewiston on Tuesday.

In years past, the Blue Devils would have dispatched a pesky Gray-New Gloucester/Poland team with a flurry of offense and a dash of shutdown defense.

The former has been lacking a bit this season, but as the Devils’ offensive machine started to churn through the first and second periods Tuesday, the goals started popping in.

Ben McDonough scored twice in the first period on his way to a four-point night, Robbie Leeman, Ben Wigant, Sam Cloutier, Devin McLellan and Ryan Lemelin added a goal each later on and Cam Poussard needed to make just 10 saves on 12 shots as the Devils dispatched the Patriotic Knights 7-2 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“We certainly got the offense we needed, and when we got the three goals in the first period, with the defense we have, that gave us a little bit of confidence,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said.

Poussard was one of the loneliest players on the ice for much of the game, as Lewiston’s defense continued to push Gray-New Gloucester/Poland players wide, and force the Knights’ shots to be off-target.

Gray-NG/Poland attempted all night to run a stretch offense, leaving a forward hanging near the Lewiston blue line all night.

“We needed to try something,” Gray-New Gloucester/Poland coach Aaron Rand said. “Their strength is cycling the puck down low, and we felt by bringing a guy high, and forcing them to cover him, we took that away from them, forced them to make longer passes in the zone and hoped we would create more turnovers that way.”

Instead, it helped Lewiston.

“It was an easy adjustment,” Belleau said. “All it meant was that our third forward had to play the point. We made the adjustment, moved the puck better and scored some more goals.”

The setup also forced many more icing calls against the Patriotic Knights, slowing the pace of the game.

McDonough asserted the Devils’ dominance early, scoring on a rebound to Patriotic Knights’ keeper Sean Bilodeau’s left at 1:44 of the opening frame. He added another on a bank shot off Bilodeau’s blocker at 7:42, and Robbie Leeman struck at 10:11 on a short-side deke to put the host Blue Devils on top, 3-0.

“We have some seniors on this team, and this time of the year, we need them to step up,” Belleau said. “We’re going to go as far as they take us this year.”

The Knights’ Kolby Arnold snuck one by Poussard at 11:17 of the first, on a power play after an Adam Healy shot.

“After we made it 3-1, things started to settle down for us,” Rand said. “By that point, though, we’re playing from behind.”

But after a long, sloppy second period, Lewiston found the back of the net again, with Ben Wigant scoring on a weak wrister from the top of the slot low to Bilodeau’s glove side, making it 4-1.

McDonough picked up his third and fourth points of the night in the third, via the assist. His shot at 5:44 of the final frame produced a tip-in goal by Cloutier, and a pass to Mclellan yielded a goal at 8:24 on a snap shot.

The teams traded goals in the final two minutes of play.

Lewiston will face No. 2 Brewer on Saturday at the Colisee in the Eastern Class A semifinal round.