LEWISTON — The Lewiston Maineiacs wore their black jerseys Friday, the first time they’ve done that at home all season. Two key players who’d been out with injuries returned to the lineup, the Maineiacs started rookie goalie Jordan Kennedy, and they tried to create a “black-out effect” at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee by asking fans to wear black to the game.

For all of the changes — including two of the best-played periods of the season to open the game — the end result remained frustratingly constant.

Behind a goal and two assists from Samson Mahbod and a 32-save performance from goaltender Marco Cousineau, the PEI Rocket rolled to a 6-4 win over Lewiston in front of 2,087 at the Colisee on Friday.

“This losing is getting really old,” Lewiston coach Don MacAdam said. “We played well enough to win (Friday) in some areas, but the way things are going, we need to play well in all areas of the game to get off of this streak.”

The loss sets a new Maineiacs benchmark for consecutive losses at eight.

“They’re a good team and we worked hard for the goals we got,” MacAdam said. “We got (36) shots on goal. (Losing) is really wearing on some of them.”

PEI, meanwhile, picked up its fourth consecutive win as the Rocket try to keep pace with Saint John in the Atlantic Division. The Sea Dogs earned their 16th win in a row Friday with their second win in a week over fellow league front-runner Drummondville.

“It’s like playing for the Stanley Cup every night in our division,” PEI coach Eric Lavigne said. “Everyone knows what a powerhouse Saint John is, and the goal is to not finish in fourth place.”

Lavigne wasn’t pleased with the way his team played after the first period, either.

“After we got the lead, we played not enough as a team, too individualistic,” Lavigne said. “We have to play a better team game than this, especially if we want to win (Saturday).”

The Maineiacs began the first period with more fire and energy than they’d put forth in three weeks, and sustained that drive through the opening stanza. All they got to show for it was a 1-1 draw.

Stefan Fournier netted the Lewiston goal 1:54 into the contest, on the game’s second shift. Etienne Brodeur began the sequence with hard pressure behind the Rocket net. He forced a turnover, and the puck squirted to Alexis Piette, who fed Sam Carrier at the right point. Carrier deked a forward and fired a wrister toward the crease, where Fournier tipped the puck into the top right corner of the cage.

The Maineiacs continued to apply pressure and go hard on the forecheck, but couldn’t put the puck by Cousineau. Meanwhile, the only dangerous scoring chance the Rocket had resulted in PEI’s goal, on a deflected shot in front of Kennedy on a late-period power play.

Lewiston carried the play for the first half of the second period, and again had nothing to show for its efforts. Maineiacs defenseman Eric Gelinas, meanwhile, netted the first goal of the middle frame — for the Rocket. He deflected a crossing feed through his own keeper’s pads to put PEI on top by a goal. The Rocket added another 31 seconds later on a snipe from the left circle to go on top by a pair.

“There’s no question we needed some saves tonight that we didn’t get,” MacAdam said. “I don’t want to bury (Kennedy), but they had six goals on their first 20 shots. We needed a couple of those.”

Undeterred, the Maineiacs struck back — twice. Francis Beauvillier potted his sixth at 13:46 on a rebound, and less than two minutes after that, Etienne Brodeur finished a two-pass, 180-foot play from Zach Shannon to Alexis Piette to Brodeur.

Thirty-eight second later, the PEI quick-strike offense netted another, again on a wrister from the left circle over Kennedy’s left shoulder.

The Rocket pulled away with a pair in the third, one each from Jarred Struthers and Mahbod to take a 6-3 lead. Lewiston tacked on a late Pier-Olivier Morin power play tally to cap the scoring.

The same two teams will square off again Saturday at the Colisee.