LEWISTON — It took a pair of fluke goals from one of the best teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League to squeak out a victory Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Christophe Losier sailed a weak turnaround wrister from the left halfboard toward the net and it waffled through traffic and over goalie Adrien Lemay’s shoulder with 5:40 to play in the third period to lift the Huskies to a 2-1 victory over the Maineiacs in front of 2,529, the third-largest crowd to attend a game this season.

“That was a big two points,” Rouyn-Noranda coach Andre Tourigny said. “Lemay is really, really good, one of the top three goalies in the league, honestly. He’s very tough to beat and the only way we could do that was with screens and tips.”

All of the game’s scoring came in the final frame, and both Rouyn-Noranda strikes were shots that originated from more than 40 feet away.

“That’s the only way they could beat him,” Maineiacs’ coach J.F. Houle said of Lemay’s performance. “They were tip-ins and shots in traffic. If Adrien saw the puck, he was going to stop it.”

On the other end, it was a pair of saves Nicholas Champion made for Rouyn-Noranda that saved the game for the Huskies. Pierre-Olivier Morin knifed through the defense with the game knotted at a goal apiece and fired a shot toward the left side of the cage. Champion pushed to his right and blocked it with his pad, and then flashed the same pad even further to his right as Etienne Brodeur swept in and tried to bury the rebound.

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“That was a big key save for him to make,” Tourigny said. “That was a turning point in the game, gave us a chance to win the game.”

Two minutes and 18 seconds later, Losier gathered a loose puck at the left boards and beat Lemay for the winner.

Matthew Bissonette had given the Maineiacs a 1-0 lead 3:48 into the third when he took a feed from Billy Lacasse, went in alone on Champion and rooked it over the goalie’s blocker.

Boston Bruins’ prospect Jordan Caron redirected a shot from the point at the top of the left circle as he skated from left to right through the zone and the puck fluttered through Lemay’s legs to even the game at 1-1 at 8:01.

Neither team capitalized on their one power play each in the first 20 minutes, and neither squad found the scoreboard otherwise as they traded offensive chances through an evenly-played period. After firing just 15 shots all game at a pair of Rouyn-Noranda goalies in a 3-2 victory Friday, Lewiston managed 11 in the first period alone Saturday.

Lemay, who saw 50 pucks Friday, needed to stop just 10 in the opening frame against the Huskies in the rematch.

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The jostling back and forth continued in the second period. Lewiston again came up empty on the power play on a pair of chances, and the Huskies likewise on one chance.

The save of the period belonged to a defenseman. Lewiston blueliner Sam Finn fell to his knees during a scrum in front of Lemay. The puck bounced around in front and one of three Rouyn-Noranda forwards gathered near the goalmouth swatted it toward the cage. Lemay was too far to his right to reach it, but Finn found the puck just in time, kicked it to himself and swatted it toward the corner with his gloved hand. He did it again in the third, this time with Lemay in position behind him.

“When you play like I do, you have to be able to do that for the team,” Finn said. “I just knew I needed to block (the first one). On the other one, I turned after and saw Adrien there, but that’s OK. It’s what you do for the team.”

Lewiston next plays on Wednesday in a home contest against former Maineiacs’ goalie Peter Delmas and the last-place Halifax Mooseheads, who have played remarkably better since acquiring the 19-year-old netminder.


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