LEWISTON — Lewiston’s defense, often impenetrable, had surrendered three goals in an entire boys’ hockey game only once all season.

Reigning Class A champion Thornton matched that output not once, but twice, and in back-to-back periods Monday night at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Not difficult to understand how the reloading but still extremely dangerous Trojans skated away with a convincing 8-4 victory.

Alex Fallon capped his hat trick with an empty-netter for the Trojans (7-7). Drew Lavigne added two goals.

“That was our best start and the best we’ve stuck to our game plan in the first period by far,” said Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon, whose team beat St. Dom’s for the state title in this building last March. “Very good for a young team.”

Lewiston (11-3-1) fell into a 4-0 hole before getting on the board just under five minutes into the second period and trailed 6-2 at the second intermission. Thornton countered each Lewiston goal with one of its own.

The Blue Devils maintain a tenuous grip on the No. 1 seed in the upcoming Eastern Class A playoffs. Gone, however, is an eight-game winning streak, with a grueling stretch ahead of three games in four nights to close the regular season.

“People like to look for excuses, but we didn’t come ready to play,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “If we don’t come to play, we can be beaten like any other high school team, particularly by a team like Thornton whose record is not necessarily indicative of how good they are.”

Twice, the Devils seemed to summon some life with a goal in the second stanza, only to see the Trojans answer almost immediately.

Evan Gosselin scored with assists to Kyle Lemelin and Ethan Melvin just after the first penalty expired in a 5-on-3 at the 4:41 mark of the second.

One minute, three seconds later, Connor O’Brien clanged one in off the left post. That spelled the end of the evening for Lewiston goalie Evan Bourassa, who was replaced by Brian Wigant.

“I’ll say it now: Evan will start Wednesday (against Gray-New Gloucester/Poland) and we’ll go from there. He’s been solid for us all year,” Belleau said. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. If we score four goals, I believe we’ll win 95 percent of the time.”

Matt Poulin pulled Lewiston within three goals again at 5-2 on an unassisted backhander at 9:05.

It took Fallon only 50 seconds to match that tally at the end of a pretty 2-on-1 with Owen Lemoine.

“Even when we came out in the second period and got our offense going, they kept scoring goals,” Belleau said. “And in the third period when we started to take it to them, they were still getting into the passing lanes and into the shooting lanes, blocking shots. Their goalie came up big.”

Thornton sophomore Andrew Huot made 13 of his 27 saves in the third period, limiting the impact of goals by Patrick DeBlois and Bryan Hall.

The listless first period left Lewiston in a 3-0 hole. Fallon, Alex Lambert and Steve Comar each scored in the first 10:27 to give the Trojans that surprising and commanding lead.

“We just got Alex Lambert back,” Gagnon said. “He’s a senior, one of our leaders, and I think we got a big emotional lift from having him out there for the first time in a couple of weeks.”

Fallon put Thornton on the board at the three-minute mark. Lewiston’s Eddie Emerson alertly got a stick on the Trojans’ initial shot from the point, but Fallon made the timely deflection from the left circle past Bourassa.

Lambert and Lemoine were credited with assists.

Thornton made it 2-0 when Lambert swiped a pedestrian pass deep in the Lewiston defensive zone and skated in alone on Bourassa.

Lewiston’s senior netminder stuffed the initial bid and tried to sweep it clear of the crease, but Lambert never lost sight of the puck and redirected it home at 5:19.

The Devils had just killed off a minor penalty for contact to the head when they were assessed another for interference.

Thornton made hay with the second power play. Tyler LaPointe’s feed from the slot to a streaking Comar (goal, three assists) in the right circle made it 3-0 at 10:27. Fallon also earned an assist.

It was by far Lewiston’s worst defensive period of the season. The previous high-water mark for an opponent was Falmouth’s 3-1 win on Jan. 3.

Offense lagged, as well, with half the Devils’ six shots on goal registered during a man-advantage that came up empty in the final minute of the period.

Lewiston will need to blot out the memories of this one in short order. The Devils play their final three games of the season in a four-day span, starting at home Wednesday.

The Devils then travel to Bangor on Thursday and to Biddeford for a rematch with the Trojans on Saturday night.

“They’re a well-coached team and very hungry. This moves them from a road quarterfinal game (in Western A) to possibly hosting one. I tip my hat to them,” Belleau said. “We need to get better.”

[email protected]