SACO — Penalties hampered Lewiston the entire game and eventually cost them a victory as the Blue Devils dropped a 3-2 decision in overtime to the Scarborough Red Storm in Class A boys’ hockey Saturday evening at MHG Ice Centre.

Lewiston (2-1) gave up nine power plays, including a five-minute major with 4:49 left in the extra session.

“The only positive thing is we lost by a goal with a man down on major penalty in overtime,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We still had a chance to win and never played anywhere near the level that we’re capable of. That’s not to take anything away from Scarborough. We didn’t come ready to play.”

With 1:28 left in overtime, junior forward Matt Henderson scooped up Cam Loiselle’s blocked shot and sidestepped the crowd in front Lewiston netminder Nick Hawk, snapping a wrist shot from the slot into an open net for the game-winning goal.

Henderson finished with two goals and an assist for the Red Storm.

“He’s been snake-bitten the last two or three games to the point we gave him a big cheer when he scored in practice to get the monkey off his back,” said Scarborough coach Norm Gagne. “He certainly came through in the game for us.”

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Lewiston tallied the first goal of the game as Matt Poulin picked up the rebound from Kyle Lemelin, beating goaltender Ben Bragg at 9:03 of the first period.

The Blue Devils had an opportunity to extend its lead as Scarborough, which also wasn’t immune from taking excessive penalties, gave Lewiston a pair of power plays back-to-back beginning at the 10:16 mark of the first period.

“We got off to a decent start, but I know what these kids are capable off and they know what they are capable of doing,” Belleau said. “If you’re not playing you’re best hockey against a team like Scarborough, it’s going to difficult to win.”

Lewiston failed to capitalize as both team’s continued to trade penalties instead of goals in the first period.

“We took too many penalties and that was the difference in the game,” said Belleau. “We didn’t come off the bus ready to skate. That’s the reason we took too many penalties, we continued to take too many penalties and could never get into a rhythm of the game.”

The second period began with a carryover 4-on-3 power play for 43 seconds for the Red Storm, but before either team could get back to even-strength, the Blue Devils were whistled for three penalties within span of 1:43, allowing Scarborough to skate with a two-man advantage for nearly three minutes.

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Lewiston did an impressive job at killing the penalties, but couldn’t keep Scarborough from tying the game as Jake Gross batted in a rebound at 7:42 of the second period.

Gross added his second point of the game, snapping a shot from the left circle, which was stopped by Hawk, but Henderson was there to bang home the rebound, putting Scarborough ahead, 2-1, with a power-play goal at 7:49 of the second period.

At 9:53, Poulin recorded his second goal of the game, picking up the backdoor pass from Lemelin, beating Bragg, who finished with 19 saves in the game.

Hawk finished with 18 saves in the loss.

Lewiston finished 0-for-6 on the power play, while Scarborough went 2-for-9 with the man advantage.

“As a unit, as a team we need to learn from the mistakes that we make,” Belleau said. “We’ll put it behind us, but we’ll learn from this. I expect us to learn from a game like this.”


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