MONTREAL, Quebec — Following a Game 4 defeat to the Lewiston Maineiacs, Montreal Junior head coach Pascal Vincent did his best to help add pressure to the Maineiacs with Game 5 looming in Montreal on Friday.

“Right now, they’re playing well,” Vincent said following Wednesday’s Game 4. “They had no pressure until (Wednesday), to be honest with you. You have these, ‘You should be winning, you should not be winning.’ That’s what the series is all about. We were the favorite, OK, now they’re supposed to win. They have three games to win one game. We know how tough it is for us to come back, it will be really tough, but at the same time, I think the pressure has turned around. It’s on them now.”

Not so fast, Lewiston coach J.F. Houle said Thursday after the team’s six-hour journey north.

“I think we’re just going out there to play a hockey game,” Houle said. “I think that’s how we see it. I think that’s how we’ve seen it all playoffs, even against Moncton and even now. I don’t think our players really feel pressure. You just want to play hockey and when that puck drops it’s just a game.”

Just a game in which the Maineiacs can clinch a second-round playoff series victory for only the second time in franchise history, of course. Advantage: Clearly Lewiston, Houle said, with three chances to close the series out.

“There’s a big difference between 2-2 and 3-1, and I feel we’re playing pretty good right now,” Houle said. “We’re competing hard, our scorers have been scoring, our checkers have been checking and our goalie’s been making some big saves. That’s a good combination.”

The one concern the Maineiacs could easily have going into Game 5 is the team’s up-and-down nature when it comes to consistent offensive pressure. In three of the previous six periods, the Maineiacs have fired fewer than five shots on goal against Montreal keeper and Los Angeles Kings draft pick Jean-Francois Berube. In the other three frames, they’ve peppered him.

“It’s important to score on our chances,” Houle said. “We’re not getting a lot of shots, so when we get a quality chance, we have to make sure we bury it. It’s going to happen in the course of a game where you’re going to have a good period and then a bad period, or one not so good. It’s how hockey is, but for the most part, we’ve battled through those bad periods pretty good.”

Another reason for the Maineiacs’ success in the series to date has been the team’s defensive play at even strength. Since Game 1, the Maineiacs have allowed only four goals in three games, two of which were power-play goals while a third was scored just after a penalty expired. That was a necessary improvement after the first game.

“The first game, we let in five 5-on-5 goals,” Houle said. “That’s an improvement. We’re a team, we pride ourselves on the pluses and minuses, and it’s important to play good defense. I think we’ve accomplished that so far.”

The Maineiacs have also spread the wealth on the scoresheet. Twelve different players have at least one point in the second round against the Junior, including goalie Nick Champion with an assist.

“We’ve been getting big contributions from everywhere,” Houle said. “The first night was (Matthew) Bissonnette (with a hat trick), then we had (Olivier) Dame-Malka (with four goals) and then Brodeur with the winner at home and (Kirill) Kabanov (Wednesday). It’s been nice that it’s been spread out. Hopefully, another Montreal native can step up to the plate here and pull out a big game.”

Champion, in addition to contributing an assist from a distance, has also been rock solid in the crease for Lewiston. Since Game 1, he’s stopped 91 of the 95 shots he’s faced.

“I think I’m feeling really good in there right now,” Champion said. “I have confidence that I’m going to stop the puck. Things are going right right now. We just need to keep that going.”