PORTLAND — Marisa Zamrock quickly felt her skates being pulled out from beneath her.

Losing her balance and having no control over her feet, the Lewiston sophomore forward still had control in her hands and an idea in her mind. Before completing her fall to the ice Wednesday, Zamrock did what all good scorers do. She put a shot on net. It wasn’t the flashiest or hardest shot, but it’s significance more than made up for its lack of style points.

“I was pretty much tripped, and I just kept the puck on my stick,” said Zamrock. “Coach says that every shot is a good shot. So I just took a shot, and it went in.”

Her shot fluttered past a surprised St. Dom’s goalie and the lone goal in the third period lifted Lewiston to a 2-1 victory in the Eastern Maine girls’ hockey championship game at the Portland Ice Arena. The defending state champs get to defend their crown Saturday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee at 7 p.m.

“It feels great right now to go back to the state championship, where we came from last year,” said Zamrock. “This was a big game for us, especially against our rivals. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The Saints (9-8-3) put a bit of a scare into the Blue Devils (16-2-2). St. Dom’s tied the game late in the second period and took the momentum into the final stanza. Sophie Goulet’s goal with 48 seconds left in the second had the Saints sensing an upset.

“Going into the third period, we had a lot of confidence and had some good momentum,” said St. Dom’s coach Don Boucher. “We just didn’t get the breaks in the third period. We thought we outplayed them. I thought we did well.”

The Saints even had a quality bid in the opening minutes of the third. Kayla McLellan made a nice rush, and Alexandra Hebert followed up on the rebound, but Lewiston netminder Sarah Turner preserved the tie with 12:23 left in regulation.

“We knew it was big to get the next goal,” said Zamrock. “They had just scored and put up their momentum. So we needed to get the next goal quick and put us ahead.”

The game-winner came on a fairly innocent transition. Zamrock had control of the puck in the offensive zone and was at the top of the left circle. While being taken down by a defender, she had the presence of mind to at least wrist the puck toward the net.

“We preach, ‘Get it on the net,'” said Lewiston coach Ron Dumont. “Any shot is a good shot. She didn’t get off a monster shot, but sometimes it’s just as good.”

The shot caught St. Dom’s goalie Nicole Keaney unaware and just as Zamrock hit the ice, her shot was in the net with 9:51 left in the game.

“I was tripped and as I was falling, the puck was still on my stick,” she said. “I just tried to hit it. It went through her legs and went in.”

St. Dom’s had a nice bid by Hebert with 3:21 left, but Turner made the save. Then the Saints got a power play with 1:14 left when Sara Marden was called for tripping.

“We were fortunate,” said Dumont. “We had a timeout left so we could rest the penalty killers. We have four girls that do all the penalty kills and one of them was in the box.”

Lewiston did a nice job keep the puck out of harm’s way but a bad clear in the final seconds gave the Saints the chance it needed. With Keaney out of the net, the Saints got the puck deep and had a nice try by McLellan as the final seconds ticked away.

“We just didn’t get it done,” said Boucher. “We’ve got to be proud of our girls. They did a fantastic job. The bounces just went their way this time.”

Lewiston took the early lead when Zamrock collected a loose puck on the right side and walked in alone for a wrister with 8:16 left in the first.

“The puck came off one of their girls,” said Zamrock. “I just grabbed it and went in and took a shot.”

Lewiston had ample opportunity to add to the lead thanks to St. Dom’s penalties in the first and second. The Blue Devils outshot the Saints 17-3 in the first and had a Marden shot hit the post. Lewiston was blanked on five power-play opportunities.

“We go on the power play and it seems like we panic a little bit because ‘oh wow, it’s the power play,’ ” said Dumont. “The momentum was there, and we just couldn’t get that next one.”

St. Dom’s played a strong second period and did a nice job bottling up Lewiston’s offense. Hebert, Goulet and Anne McIntire all had threatening bids in the second. Goulet nearly had a backhander on a shorthanded burst down the right side but couldn’t finish. Moments later, she had another crack following another turnover and buried it to tie the game.

“We definitely played much better than we did last time,” said Boucher, whose club tied Lewiston 1-1 and lost 4-1 in the regular season. “We had our chances to pull it off. We just came up short.”

St. Dom’s Anne McIntire cross-checks to the back of Lewiston’s Marisa Zamrock’s head as the Saints’ goalie Nicole Keaney watches Zamrock’s shot go wide in the third period of their eastern regional final Wednesday in Portland. The Blue Devils topped the Saints 2-1.

The Lewiston Blue Devils celebrate their 2-1 win over the Saint Doms Saints at the Portland Ice Arena in the Eastern Regional Girls’ Ice Hockey match up Wednesday.

Lewiston’s Sara Marden reaches out her stick to impede Sophie Goulet’s pass in the third period of the eastern regional final Wednesday in Portland. Lewiston won 2-1.

Saint Doms’ Lydia Martin elbows Lewiston’s Taylor Texeira in the head in a struggle over the puck in the first period of their Eastern Regional Final Wednesday at the Portland Ice Arena. The Saints’ roughness did not help them and the Blue Devils won 2-1.

Lewiston’s Natalie Rousseau works to get under St. Doms’ Sophie Goulet in a bid to control the puck during the second period of the eastern regional final Wednesday in Portland. Lewiston won 2-1.