As momentum-builders go, Friday’s game will more than do just fine.

Perhaps picking on a team that had already packed it in for the season after failing to qualify for the playoffs, and perhaps also getting fired up for the upcoming playoffs themselves, the Lewiston Maineiacs broke out of a recent offensive slump in a big way Friday, registering a 7-0 win over Baie-Comeau in front of 1,611 at Centre Henry-Leonard.

Lewiston coach J.F. Houle was vocal earlier in the week that he may use this weekend’s pair of games as an open audition for his goaltenders as the team heads into the playoffs. Nick Champion was the team’s choice Friday, and the 20-year-old, who at one time led the league in wins and was among the top five in GAA and save percentage, turned in a 25-save performance to earn his second shutout of the season.

“He made some really big saves early in the first period to keep us in it,” Houle said. “I was really happy with Champion’s performance.”

One of the team’s other stated goals this weekend, particularly in Friday’s game against a team without a true purpose to play, was to remain relatively healthy. Mission accomplished on that front, as well.

“We played well and there were no injuries (Friday),” Houle said. “We got a lot of guys on the score sheet, too. Now we have to look forward to Sunday.”

The win gave Lewiston an outside shot at earning the No. 7 seed in the playoffs, pulling the team within a point of Shawinigan. The Cataractes will play Saturday and Sunday, though, while Lewiston has only its game against Chicoutimi remaining.

Moncton, in ninth, and Victoriaville, in 10th, also lost Friday, meaning the identity of the Maineiacs’ first-round opponent will remain a mystery until Sunday afternoon.

Friday, it was Bryce Milson netting his eighth of the season late in the first to break a scoreless tie after a back-and-forth opening stanza during which the Drakkar outshot the Maineiacs 15-12.

“We came out a bit slow tonight, but we came around and picked it up in the second and third,” Houle said.

That late-period goal seemed to spark the team’s nose for the net.

Early in the second, Etienne Brodeur ran his league-leading season total to 51 goals 1:36 into the period on a feed from Pierre-Olivier Morin. Two minutes and 32 seconds later, Kirill Kabanov netted his 11th on an in-zone turnover, and 7:06 after that, Sam Henley added another on a similar situation, this turnover forced down low by Jess Tanguy.

Sam Carrier got into the act later in the second, blasting his 11th of the season past Baie-Comeau keeper Jason Missiaen with the Maineiacs enjoying their second power play of the contest.

“We were moving the puck very well on the power play tonight,” Houle said.

The Drakkar inserted Simon Giroux into the game between the pipes in the third period, but he fared no better.

Brodeur added his second of the game and 52nd of the season less than a minute into the third, and Michael Chaput scored on the Maineiacs’ second shot of the period.

Lewiston’s final regular-season game is Sunday, and the Maineiacs will begin the playoffs at home for the first time in four years, their first game tentatively slated for Friday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.