LEWISTON — The Lewiston Maineiacs’ up-and-down ride of a game came to a jarring halt in the second round of the shootout.

With the flick of his wrists, Gerrard Grant lofted a backhander high glove side, beating Lewiston goalie Adrien Lemay under the crossbar to lift the Halifax Mooseheads to a 6-5 victory over the Maineiacs at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Wednesday, capping a wild night that saw two lead changes and three ties, and the successful return to Lewiston of a pair of former Maineiacs.

“It was just a rollercoaster game,” Halifax defenseman Garrett Clarke said. Clarke spent his 16-year-old season with Lewiston last year before Halifax acquired him via trade last summer.

“We’d get a couple, they’d get a couple and come back on us,” he said. “(Goalie) Peter (Delmas) would be down, then we’d help him out and boost his confidence. We battled hard and going into overtime, I knew we’d pull it off.”

Delmas, also a former Maineiac, made his second trip back to the Colisee this season. His first came early in the season with Quebec. That night didn’t go so well, and he got pulled after the first period. Wednesdy, he said, was a little better.

“I didn’t play my best, that’s for sure,” Delmas admitted. “I don’t know what it is about this building, but we won in this building, and I was really happy to beat (Lewiston goalie Adrien) Lemay and that team.”

Delmas nearly had the Maineiacs stymied in regulation. Billy Lacasse scored the tying goal with 1.7 seconds on the clock to force the extra session.

“It was great how we tied it, but it’s disappointing to have it end with a loss,” Lewiston coach J.F. Houle said. “We were real sluggish tonight. I don’t believe we didn’t work, just nothing was connecting tonight. Passes were behind, it was just one of those games where mentally it just didn’t happen for us.”

On the heels of a pair of strong games against a top-flight team in Rouyn-Noranda, Wednesday’s performance was particularly puzzling for Houle.

“It happens a lot in hockey when you play a really good team — it’s mental,” Houle said. “I think we were a little sluggish. These are the games we have to win, and we let that one slip.”

Lewiston built a 3-1 through the early part of the second period on goals by Matt Boyle, Pierre-Olivier Morin and Michael Chaput against one Halifax tally from Grant.

But the Mooseheads found their way back. Two quick power-play goals, one each from Travis Randell and Jessyko Bernard 1:36 apart in the middle part of the second, evened things back off at 3-3.

“The momentum just kind of built from there,” Delmas said.

“We allowed two power play goals there and they just got the momentum back,” Houle said.

Halifax scored a pair in the third period, too, to take a 5-3 lead. Jess Tanguy responded to a Carl Gelinas goal at 5:37 with his sixth of the season at 6:16 to pull the Maineiacs within a goal, setting up the Lacasse strike after Sam Carrier fought to keep the puck in at the right point.

Lewiston plays its next three on the road, beginning Friday night in Rimouski. The team then skates in Drummondville on Sunday, and in Shawinigan on Tuesday.