Despite seeing a two-goal lead evaporate in the final minute of the second period, the Blue Devils didn’t waiver and exploded for four goals in the final frame in a 7-3 victory over Bangor on Saturday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. 

Jean-Luc Dostie scored the game-winner 2:16 into the third period on the power play and Lewiston tacked on three more goals in the final 2:29. It’s the third time this year the Blue Devils have scored at least seven goals. 

“We got a pep talk from our coach,” Lewiston’s Jeromey Rancourt said. “He really kept us into the game and made sure we didn’t give up. It’s adversity, you have to face it head on.” 

Rancourt gave the Blue Devils a 2-1 lead — their first lead of the game — with 11:40 remaining in the second period. He knocked in a loose puck off a rebound from Brendon Croteau. Jonathan Sturgis doubled the advantage five minutes later on a slap shot from the blue line. 

With less than a minute remaining in the period, it looked as if Lewiston (7-3-1) would skate to a 3-1 advantage entering the third period. The Rams thought otherwise. 

Bangor (8-3) took advantage of an ill-timed line change as Sam Kenney scored on a breakaway from center ice with 34 seconds left in the period. Just 20 seconds later, Owen Trundy stole the puck in Bangor’s offensive zone and found Nick Graham in front, who buried a shot past Lewiston goaltender Jacob Strout to tie the game. 

“Despite the fact we lost that 3-1 lead with a minute left in the second, I thought we played two good periods of hockey,” Belleau said. “We made two mistakes and we had a lot of young guys on the back end. They made a bad change and we had a guy who hadn’t played defense all year, never in practice, and he turned the puck over and they capitalized. It deflated us a little bit, but we just had to stay focused. This was a really, really, really, good effort by our kids today.” 

Sturgis said players didn’t get down on themselves in the locker room and that the pep talk between periods may have involved mention of the popular Disney-created hockey team of the 1990s. 

“It was still uptempo more than not,” Sturgis said. “There were references to the Mighty Ducks.” 

The momentum the Rams generated at the tail end of the second period was wiped away 16 seconds into the third when Graham was called for elbowing. Dostie broke the tie with one second left on the power play, redirecting a pass from Kyle Ullrich. 

Rancourt netted his second with 2:29 remaining and Sturgis added his second a minute later with a shot from the sideboards to give Lewiston a 6-3 lead.

“Disappointed in the third-period effort,” Bangor coach Quinn Paradis said. “I thought we were going to come out a lot better after the last 30 seconds of the second period. We got outworked, outplayed and it showed on the scoreboard. We’re excited to play them again, hopefully two or three more times.” 

Alex Rivet made it 7-3 with 31 seconds remaining on a shot from the right circle over the near-side shoulder of Bangor goaltender Derek Fournier. 

The Blue Devils held a 13-4 advantage in shots in the third period. 

“We were in shape,” Belleau said. “We had some legs. We forechecked well, we forechecked smart. We put pucks in deep. We were winning battles down low behind the goal line and it created scoring opportunities for us. We were moving the puck well and putting pucks to the net.” 

Kyle Morin scored Lewiston’s first goal of the game, throwing a shot on net from the side of the cage to tie the game 1-1 with 3:48 left in the first period. 

Lewiston outshot Bangor 37-26.

Strout finished with 23 saves, while Fournier stopped 30 shots. 

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