LEWISTON — Looking around the locker room, Michael Chaput was back to feeling like a pee-wee.

After the Philadelphia Flyers selected the 18-year-old Lewiston forward in the third round of June’s NHL draft with their first selection of the event, Chaput earned an invitation to the team’s NHL training camp.

There, knowing he’d be a go-to player with the Maineiacs, he realized just how far away he was from the proverbial next step.

“You know how hard you have to work, you see how hard those guys work even at that level,” Chaput said. “They’re superstars now and they’re still working hard, probably harder than I’ve worked so far. So I know I have to work harder to get there.”

He had a couple of successful days at the team’s camp, and played in a rookie game against the Washington Capitals’ rookies. Then, the team returned him to Lewiston.

“It definitely gives you confidence,” Chaput said. “You go up there, you see guys play, it’s obviously a different league. The pace is faster, the guys are bigger. You come back here, you know where you’ve gone, you know what you can do, so it’s a bit of a confidence boost.”

Still, Chaput said, coming back to major junior hockey requires a period of adjustment.

“There’s definitely an adjustment to make, the guys are a little slower, the passes are different, the speed of the puck, the speed of the guys,” Chaput said. “It’s an adjustment to make, but it takes about two or three days and you’re back at the right speed.”

Perhaps for many it takes a couple of days. For Chaput, the process appeared to take longer. Expected to lead the team this season, Chaput struggled to get off the ground early. Several different line combinations later, things still weren’t working.

Then, coach J.F. Houle tried putting his top scorer this season — Etienne Brodeur — with the two players who led the team in scoring last year — Chaput and Pierre-Olivier Morin.

Bingo.

“Sometimes you just get into that funk and the puck just doesn’t go in,” Chaput said. “Tonight, I tipped one in, and Etienne actually made a nice pass to me and I pretty much had an open net. I had to put it in. Sometimes it’s just that kind of game that gets you started. I think that was one of those games.”

“It’s pretty scary because Brodeur is getting a lot of chances, he’s using his speed,” Houle said. “He’s a good player and he has it going, so why not play him with good players.”

“It was nice to see Chap getting on the board here,” Houle added.

With Chaput now on the scoring train — and, Houle hopes, Morin right behind — the Maineiacs are now looking forward to doing something they haven’t done in a very long time: put up a winning streak.

The last time Lewiston won three games in a row was a three game stretch immediately following Christmas last season, in Houle’s first three games behind the bench. It was the second three-game stretch of the season.

In 2008-09, the Maineiacs never won three in a row.

“We love winning, but it’s been hard lately to put two and three games together,” Chaput said. “That’s what we’re trying to do, and we’re focusing on that right now.”