Those two goals were the difference, with Nick Bisson’s buzzer-beater providing an answer to a St. Dom’s goal with a two-man advantage late in the second.

A Saints’ rally then fell short in the third as the last word in the longstanding rivalry remains with Lewiston.

“Thankfully tonight we were able to get one more than they did,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said.

The Blue Devils (10-1) owned the puck in the first period, but were able to generate a single goal on 10 shots. That came from freshman Sam Frechette (who also scored the first goal in Lewiston’s 6-1 win earlier this season). Fellow freshman Alex Robert had the primary assist, with Jeromey Rancourt getting the secondary assist.

“Feels great,” Frechette said of lighting the lamp as a freshman in the rivalry. “I had my partner, Alex Robert, also a freshman. He gave a lot of good passes to me.”

Frechette then scored again from Robert to open the second. Senior captain Kyle Morin started the play that Frechette said was “just momentum” to get the period going.

“Those are pretty hard,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker said of giving up a goal in the opening seconds of a period, “because if you’re scored (on) right off the bat in a period you’re really caught napping.”

The Saints (7-6-1) got their wake-up call with a full two-minute, 5-on-3 power play late in the second. They only needed 59 seconds of it to break onto the scoreboard. Gavin Bates ripped a shot from the left side on a pass from Austin Roy.

“He’s always ready,” Parker said of Bates. “Doesn’t matter this game or a game against another team. He’s always fired up.”

The Saints were poised to take the momentum of Bates’ goal into the second intermission, but Nick Bisson had other ideas. Yet another Lewiston freshman, he beat the horn to regain the Blue Devils’ two-goal lead.

“It’s a momentum-changer obviously,” Belleau said.

“It kind of was dejecting,” Parker said. “But yet we turned it around in the locker room, and we got the kids really fired up.”

The Saints tilted the ice in their favor in the third. Shots that were few and far between in the first 30 minutes started to add up against Lewiston goalie Jacob Strout, who Belleau said “did excellent.”

“We did have intensity in the third period, and we moved the puck pretty well,” Parker said.

Yet the shots weren’t producing goals for St. Dom’s. Then, special teams took over — which was good news for the Saints.

A St. Dom’s power play — which produced four unsuccessful shots — was cut a few seconds short when Isaac Lapointe was sent to the box for a five-minute boarding major. The Lewiston man-advantage only lasted three minutes, however, as Cole Ouellette was sent to the box for his own major penalty.

The Saints were able to take advantage of the extended power play once Lapointe was let out. Bates fed Noah Toussaint for a tough-angle shot from the right side that eluded Strout and drew St. Dom’s closer with just over two minutes left.

“You can only kill penalties well for so long before a teams going to capitalize,” Belleau said. “They’re a good, skilled team. They got five guys on the ice on the power play who can really move the puck.”

A scrum in front of Strout in the waning seconds of the game couldn’t provide an equalizer for the Saints, who closed the gap on their rivals after a five-goal loss four weeks ago.

The latest rendition of the rivalry sold out Norway Savings Bank Arena. The capacity crowd wasn’t left disappointed.

“Tonight was exciting,” Parker said. “It was a good atmosphere at the rink.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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