LEWISTON — Lewiston coach J.F. Houle put his hand to his head, and ran his fingers through his hair.

“Holy cow, we’re on the road a lot this month,” Houle said, leafing through travel plans for the next couple of weeks.

October has been — and will continue to be — a travel-heavy month for the Maineiacs, who will have competed nine times on the road by Halloween, compared to only four time at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Wednesday is the team’s final home game before November, and it’s a big one. The Maineiacs have a chance to stretch a winning streak to four games for the first time since October and November of 2007.

“That’s what good teams do, they learn to win,” Houle said. “They find a way to win. I think it’s important for us to keep going like that. We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied yet. We expect a lot from these young men, and we want to be a top team in this league.”

Adding to the streak won’t be an easy task. Shawinigan will arrive in town with six wins and a shootout loss in 13 games. The Cataractes are 3-3 in October, with wins over Drummondville, Val d’Or and Chicoutimi.

“Eric (Veilleux) is a good coach, he always gets his team to compete hard,” Houle said. “It’s going to be a good game here on Wednesday. They have some good players, so we have to be ready.”

Leading the way for the Cataractes are Yannick Veilleux (13 points) and Max Le Sieur (11).

Lewiston, meanwhile, will continue to play shorthanded. At least four players — Matthew Bissonnette, Cole Hawes, Ian Saab and Jonah Coonishish-Coon — are hurt enough to be ruled out of the team’s next game, and another, Francis Beauvillier, is questionable.

“We’re a little banged up, but it’s hockey, so it’s to be expected,” Houle said. “I think we’ll be skating a little bit short, but we really don’t want to bring anyone in right now if we’re just going to get a guy back in two or three days anyway.”

Against Baie-Comeau on the road over the weekend, the Maineiacs skated at least one player short in each game, and finished Sunday’s game with just 15 skaters.

“It didn’t seem to hurt is this weekend, and everybody we had played pretty good,” Houle said.

With the team’s top line of Etienne Brodeur, Michael Chaput and Pierre-Olivier Morin clicking well, the rest of the lines, with all of the injuries, have been constantly juggling. So, too, have the special teams units. Though, in the case of the penalty-kill, that hasn’t seemed to matter much. The Maineiacs are killing off penalties at an 84.8 percent clip, fourth-best in the league.

“Everybody’s got to learn different positions, because you never know who’s going to go down and which players will be available when,” Houle said. “It’s very important, even the power play. If you’re not on the power play, you have to be watching, in case you’re asked to go.”

With the extra skater, Lewiston is fifth in the QMJHL at 25.75 percent.

Wednesday’s game, which also features a special fan promotion centered around the upcoming elections, begins at 7 p.m. at the Colisee.