LEWISTON – The puck sat idly in the crease against Chicoutimi goalie John Nauta’s right pad. Two Sagueneens defenders tried desperately to clear the puck, but Lewiston Maineiacs’ forward Billy Lacasse snuck in between them and pushed the puck – and Nauta – into the net.

“It was between the D and the goalie,” Lacasse said, who also said he had to shove Nauta “about 10 inches” into the cage for the puck to cross the line.

Lacasse’s goal, his 22nd of the year, came at 19:52 of the third period and capped a furious comeback as the Maineiacs rallied from two goals down in the third to force overtime, earning one point and clinching the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s 16th and final playoff berth, despite losing, 3-2, to Chicoutimi in a shootout.

“Even though we didn’t get the win, the third period effort from the guys was great,” Lewiston goalie Peter Delmas said.

The Sags’ Jacob Lagace scored the only goal of the shootout on the team’s first attempt, beating Delmas high glove with a laser of a wrist shot. Lacasse, Steeven Jacques and Alex Beaton all missed for Lewiston, but by that point, the game’s end result was moot. Val d’Or, which needed a Lewiston loss to have a chance at the playoffs, fell flat against Montreal, losing 12-1 to the Junior in Verdun.

MacAdam knew the situation at the intermission. But he never told the players.

“It mattered how well we played in the game,” MacAdam said. “You take getting into the playoffs anyway you can get it.”

It worked.

“Everybody knew the meaning of the game, and the intensity was the highest this year,” Lacasse said. “We didn’t know we were in the playoffs, and we had to fight hard every shift.”

Delmas, after allowing two goals on 17 shots in the first period – both on Chicoutimi power plays – shut the door from there, making 37 saves on the game to allow his team to come back.

“We would not be in the playoffs had it not been for our goaltending,” MacAdam said. “We did a good job later in the game of not giving up quality scoring chances, but when they got a couple, he was there.”

Chicoutimi enjoyed seven power plays in the opening frame to none for Lewiston, including an extended 5-on-3. One of those penalties was to 20-year-old Max Gratchev, who was playing his final regular-season home game for the team. Gratchev got tangled with Olivier Painchaud in the center zone. The two wrestled and then fought. Gratchev received two minutes for instigating, five for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct, ending his night 11:33 into the contest.

“Our top scorer is being held on the play, and instead of two minutes each for holding or hugging or whatever you want to call it, it was allowed to go on and on and on, until it escalated. It’s not an uncommon strategy to take the opponents’ best player off the ice. Unfortunately, the third team did that on the ice tonight.”

After surviving with just two goals against in the first, Lewiston regrouped in the second, and came out firing in the third, peppering Nauta with 16 shots in the last 20 minutes.

Lewiston got the first one back at 9:02, when Sam Finn fired a wrister past Nauta moments after a disallowed Lewiston goal.

Lacasse evened things at 19:52, setting up the overtime session and the shootout.

Lewiston’s playoff run begins this weekend in Drummondville. The team said Sunday it would soon announce the official schedule soon.