The winning streak will have to wait.

One night after ending the longest losing streak since moving to Lewiston, the Maineiacs ran into one of the best teams into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Thursday, falling 7-3 to the Drummondville Voltigeurs in front of 1,922 at the Marcel Dionne Centre.

“That’s still a good team,” Maineiacs’ interim head coach Jeff Guay said. “They still move the puck well. They jumped on us in the first period when we didn’t move the puck well, and it was a good lesson. When we score, we have to make sure we win the faceoff and get the puck deep. We didn’t do that tonight.”

The Maineiacs showed signs of life early Thursday, but the Volts struck first, and they struck often, getting three goals in the opening frame to put the Maineiacs behind the eight-ball quickly.

“The kids were pumped after (Wednesday) night, but Drummondville was sitting here and waiting for us,” Guay said. “Not to make excuses at all, though. We had a hard time winning the one-on-one battles along the boards, and they took advantage of that.”

Maxime Frenette, Benoit Levesque and Ryan McKiernan netted goals in the opening frame to put the homestanding Volts on top to stay, including a pair late, to send the Maineiacs into the locker room down by three.

The second period was more Lewiston’s speed. The Maineiacs scored three, one each from Sebastien Trudeau, Michael Chaput and Pier-Olivier Morin, and outscored Drummondville in the middle frame. Problem was, Drummondville also netted a pair in the period and kept pace with the Maineiacs’ attempt at a comeback.

“Those faceoffs, they killed us,” Guay said. “We need to get the puck deep on faceoff wins after we score.”

The Volts pulled away in the third, adding a pair of goals to fill out the scoresheet.

The Maineiacs will now be on break through December 27. Meanwhile, the QMJHL’s mid-season trade period opens this weekend, and Lewiston is a likely player as a seller. Among the rumored players to be on the move are goalkeeper Adrien Lemay and defenseman Matt Boyle, though the team currently says that while the rumors are starting, nothing has been made official.

“We told the kids not to wait by the phone while they’re on break,” Guay said. “There’s a lot of talk in the league about what’s happening, but we as a team are going to do what’s best for the team as a whole, both for this season and for the future.”

Earlier this week, Lewiston GM Roger Shannon said the Maineiacs would be just as happy standing pat and not executing any trades at all as they would be making two or three moves.

“We’re not going to make move for the sake of making moves, and we know how valuable our guys are,” Shannon said. “If the right offer comes along, and we’re in a good position, we’ll make a move.”

The league’s mid-season trade period opens after the final game before the holiday break is played, and runs for three weeks.

Lewiston’s next game is a road game on Dec. 27 in Victoriaville, and the Maineiacs return to home ice the following night, Dec. 28, also against Victoriaville.