LEWISTON — He may be the smallest St. Dom’s hockey player, but Brad Berube stepped up big at an enormous time for the Saints on Wednesday night.

Berube tipped in a shot by Danny Nadeau with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation, pushing St. Dom’s past Greely, 3-2, at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“Just keep crashing,” Berube said of the philosophy that led to the third goal of his rookie season.

A Greely player’s broken stick left the Rangers shorthanded and allowed the Saints to keep the puck in their offensive zone for the frenzied final seconds.

“That was a huge break for us,” said Nadeau, a senior assistant captain.

Nadeau uncorked his bid from just inside the blue line with about three seconds left. Berube squirted through the slot and tipped the puck past Greely goalie Kyle Kramlich.

“We always say in that situation, ‘Get the puck on net! Get the puck on net!’ Fortunately there was an opening there and somebody was there to follow it up,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said.

Class A St. Dom’s (7-2) picked up its fifth straight win. Class B Greely (6-3-1) dropped its third in a row.

The game appeared destined for overtime after Greely’s Drew Hackett and St. Dom’s Will Desmarais had point-blank bids stymied in the final minute.

That should have surprised no one. Despite the separation in class, the Rangers play a beefed-up schedule. They lost to Lewiston 4-3 in overtime in their last outing.

“They’re disguised as a Class A team in Class B. They’re going through a tough stretch in their schedule,” Ouellette said. “We put them on our schedule because we knew they were good.”

Good enough to lead early and pull even late.

Troy Haefele put St. Dom’s in front 2-1 with 10:56 remaining in regulation, beating Kramlich through the five-hole. Cody Rodrigue assisted Haefele’s second goal of the season and second point of the night.

Hackett furnished Greely’s answer with 3:51 to play. Pete Stauber and Kenny Richards set up the Rangers’ goal, their second on the power play.

“We took some penalties that hurt us tonight, but we got through it,” Ouellette said.

After a scoreless first period, Greely cashed in quickly on its first full-length power play of the night to snag the lead.

Zac Doucette delivered the initial shot from the blue line. Mitchel Donovan skated right-to-left around fallen St. Dom’s goalie Austin Christopher and wristed home the second chance at 5:40.

The Hainey brothers each factored into the equalizer for St. Dom’s.

Cam Hainey and a Greely defender fought for the puck in the Rangers’ defensive zone, and it skipped to Haefele near center ice.

Haefele found sophomore Chase Hainey in the slot for his first goal of the season.

Two uncontested tries by Nadeau narrowly missed giving St. Dom’s the lead in the closing moments of the period.

Nadeau lost his balance after catching Kramlich leaning in the wrong direction and couldn’t uncork the first try. He had an even better look as that possession continued, but Kramlich kicked it away.

“We thought it would be the type of season where there are going to be a lot of 2-1 and 3-2 games, and that’s what seems to be happening,” Ouellette said.

Both teams enjoyed their best scoring opportunity of the first period on a bang-bang sequence at the end of an abbreviated St. Dom’s 5-on-3.

With 10 seconds remaining in the first penalty, the Saints won a draw and located Bryan Bonenfant for an uncontested shot from the right point.

Greely’s Brian Storey deflected it off course and back to the blue line. Ted Hart picked up the remnants near the Rangers’ bench and had a short-handed breakaway bid.

Bonenfant brought last-second resistance from the back side. Hart’s offering eluded Christopher (21 saves) and clanged the inner half of the far post.

“That could have been a big goal,” Ouellette said.

St. Dom’s entered the game having not tasted defeat since an 8-1 thrashing from Class A champion Thornton on Jan. 4.

“It’s teamwork,” Berube said of the turnaround.

“And staying together,” echoed Nadeau. “I know Brad’s going to keep doing his part. I just have to keep doing mine.”

koakes@sunjournal.com