Jordan Kennedy’s first full game between the pipes for the Lewiston Maineiacs didn’t exactly go as planned, although coach Don MacAdam was quick to point out that Kennedy was one of the team’s better players Tuesday.

And it’s never a good sign when one of your better players allows eight goals.

Kennedy allowed five goals in the first period — including four in the first 9:45 — and the Maineiacs couldn’t climb out of that hole, falling to the Saint John Sea Dogs 8-4 at Harbour Station.

“It’s obviously still the preseason, and we’re still in learning mode a bit,” MacAdam said. “If there’s one big lesson we talked about after this game it’s that you have to get off the bus and be ready to play, and we certainly weren’t tonight.”

Stephen MacAuley netted a pair of goals in the opening frame, including the first strike of the game just 3:05 in on the power play. Olivier Ouellet scored the first of his two goals on the night at 4:02, and goals from Zack Phillips and MacAuley ran the lead to 4-0.

“We couldn’t get the puck out over our own blue line and we couldn’t get it in over theirs,” MacAdam said. “That’s never a good combination.”

In the second, Lewiston split the period with the Sea Dogs. Pier-Olivier Morin netted his second on the night (he also scored late in the first frame) to offset a Yann Sauve strike as Kennedy settled in. In previous games this preseason, MacAdam has opted to split the game between Kennedy and 20-year-old Adrien Lemay. Tuesday was all about Kennedy.

“Again, we hadn’t seen any of our goalies in a complete game, and we wanted to get a feel for how (Kennedy) would handle the situation,” MacAdam said. “Adrien will go the full game (Wednesday). But I thought, given the wa the team played in front of him, that Jordan did an OK job.”

In the third, the Maineiacs drew to within two at 6-4 on goals from Riku Dufva and Michael Chaput, but the Sea Dogs pulled away with another pair late to cap the scoring.

“When we got close, there, at 6-4, we let in a bad goal,” MacAdam said. “That was the end of it there.”

The same two teams will battle in a Maineiacs’ home game at the Willie O’Ree Center in Fredericton, New Brunswick on Wednesday at 6 p.m. That will be the Maineiacs’ final preseason tuneup before the regular season kicks off Friday, Sept. 11 with a road game in Chicoutimi.