LEWISTON — Sam Carrier didn’t move. Still in his skates and all of his padding from the waist down, Carrier sat on a workout bench in the team’s locker room, a towel draped over his head and his hands covering his ears. He remained motionless for more than five minutes.

On the floor nearby, fellow defenseman Sam Finn executed bicycle crunches, but even his heavy breathing from the exercise was muted. An odd slammed locker drawer or dropped pad were the only things making noise as the silence of another loss soaked in.

Despite a furious attempt at a comeback late in the third period that yielded one goal and a handful of scoring opportunities, the Maineiacs’ losing streak reached nine Saturday as the PEI Rocket received goals from three different players and a 37-save performance from Evan Mosher to earn a 3-2 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“I thought we worked very hard, and unfortunately I thought we played our best when we sat two or three guys out,” Maineiacs’ coach Don MacAdam said. “We’re getting good efforts, but to win a game right now, it’s going to take an ‘A-plus’ effort across the board, and we’re not getting that right now.”

Despite scoring the first goal of the game — again — and despite changing goaltenders and adding a new backup on the bench, the Maineiacs in the end fell victim to their own mistakes. Two of the Rocket’s three goals were the result of turnovers at the top of the defensive zone, within five feet of the blue line. The other came on a missed assignment several seconds after a PEI power play had expired.

“We have to be able to win those battles on the wall consistently, and to do that we need heart,” MacAdam said.

The team’s nine consecutive losses extend its worst stretch since moving to Lewiston in 2003.

The Rocket, meanwhile, are now tied for second in the Atlantic Division with Cape Breton with 35 points, and PEI has two games in hand as the season nears its midway point.

“Tonight, we executed better as a team,” PEI coach Eric Lavigne said. “In the second period and to start the third, we were textbook. We have two three-on-fives, but for 14 minutes in the third we were excellent, and our goalie was very solid.”

Lewiston unleashed a barrage of shots in the first period, but too many of the shots were from too far away, and were easy for Mosher to handle.

On the other end, Adrien Lemay handled all 11 shots he faced with ease, as well, as both teams appeared afraid to make a defensive mistake early.Lemay was back in net after sitting out Friday with an illness.

Lewiston struck first after a much tighter period by the PEI defense when Michael Chaput swooped in on a faceoff to Mosher’s left after a Billy Lacasse win and tucked the puck between the keeper’s pads to put the home team on top by a goal.

The Rocket then went to work on the forecheck. Twice, Lewiston forwards had the puck within three feet of the blue line to clear the zone, and twice the Rocket swiped the puck and turned the turnovers into goals. The first came on a blast from Joel Champagne at the top of the right circle to tie the game.

After a Samson Mahbod goal at the tail end of a power play, Jordan Escott repeated Champagne’s goal almost identically from the left wall, cheating in to the top of the left circle and beating Lemay high to the glove side.

Lewiston got one back on its second 5-on-3 power play of the third period when Eric Gelinas lofted the puck into the cage from 45 feet. His second of the season pulled his team within one. Aven with Lemay pulled in the final minute, though, Lewiston couldn’t put the puck past Mosher again.

The Maineiacs play their next four games on the road, beginning Tuesday in Moncton. The trip takes them to Cape Breton, Halifax and Saint John before they next play at home, on Wednesday, Dec. 9 against division foe Drummondville.