The good: The Lewiston Maineiacs nearly overcame a five-goal deficit on the road.

The bad: They didn’t overcome a five-goal deficit.

The ugly: They had a five-goal deficit to worry about in the first place.

In his 22nd consecutive game played, Adrien Lemay again looked the part of a tired goalkeeper, and he suffered from a lack of help from his defensive corps in front of him as the Rimouski Oceanic rode the wave of a five-goal outburst to a 7-5 victory over the visiting Maineiacs in font of 3,428 at the Rimouski Colisee on Friday.

“I don’t know what it is, but I know our defense wasn’t playing well in front of him, either,” Maineiacs’ coach J.F. Houle said.

The Oceanic, which like the Maineiacs are made up of a gaggle of 16- and 17-year-old skaters, shot out to a 5-0 lead through the first 32 minutes of the contest on the backs of five different goal-scorers.

“They played well, hey were all over us early,” Houle said.

Houle yanked Lemay after the fourth, a Petr Staka strike at 10:29 of the second. Sixteen-year-old rookie Jordan Kennedy then allowed a goal on his first sequence.

“It wasn’t looking good at that point, but then the guys started to battle back,” Houle said.

Billy Lacasse stopped the bleeding with what at first appeared to be a token, shutout-busting goal at 16:59 of the middle frame.

But Lewiston kept coming.

Cameron Critchlow, Lacasse and Matthew Bissonette struck for three goals in the first seven minutes of the third to pull the Maineiacs within a goal at 5-4. Ryan Kavanagh and Lacasse then traded goals to make it 6-5 in the third.

“It wasn’t pretty early in the game, but I have to give the boys credit, they never gave up,” Houle said. “We started to forecheck a little differently, more aggressively and take some chances, and that worked.”

Felix Lefrancois potted his second of the game with 56 seconds to play, with the Oceanic on the power play, to seal the victory.

“That’s where we got stopped again, taking three bad penalties at the end of the game,” Houle said.

The Maineiacs play two more games this weekend, one in Quebec on Saturday night and a matinee in Vctoriaville on Sunday. Houle was not sure late Friday which goaltender would get the nod.

“I have to talk to (assistant coach) Jeff (Guay) about it,” Houle said. “Using the same forecheck we did in the second half tonight against Quebec is dangerous, so we have to be careful.”