Lewiston’s Joe Bisson watches the puck bounce off the back of the net after scoring a wrap around goal against Biddeford goalie Justin Larnerd in the first period of Wednesday nigh’ts hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston.

Lewiston’s Jack Leblond stretches to gain control of the puck ahead of Biddeford’s Curtis Petit during the first period of Wendnesday night’s game in Lewiston.

LEWISTON — Biddeford and Lewiston may not meet a second time during this boys’ hockey season. That would only occur in the Class A state championship game. The first — and maybe only — meeting Wednesday night proved that things can change in seconds, and that second chances can change things.

The Blue Devils made the seconds count and skated to an intense, 7-3 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Lewiston, which has led for every second in many games this season, stared down a deficit just seconds into the contest — if only for a second. A would-be Biddeford goal by Logan Magnant was waved off 14 seconds in, with the officials saying the net was loose before the puck went in.

“They said two things to me. The explanations to me … was one referee said that it didn’t go over the line, and the other referee said the net was off as well,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “It definitely was a wake-up call, and definitely not something we want to have happen. Glad it went our way.

“That’s not something that we don’t talk about,” Belleau added. “When we prepare for every game, including tonight, we said ‘look, they’re going to come out hard, they’re going to be looking for us to make a mistake, they’re going to try to capitalize on the mistake. We can’t decide to wait till the second or third period to wake up.’ And so it’s a good learning experience.”

With a second chance to score the game’s first goal, the Blue Devils (14-1) took advantage. Jack Leblond’s initial shot was stopped by Tigers (9-6) goalie Justin Larnerd, but Jeromey Rancourt was near the right post to score on the rebound 56 seconds in.

“I think it’s a good answer,” Rancourt said. “It gets us into the game, doesn’t put us at a deficit. It gives us a good jump.”

Lewiston survived a Biddeford flurry four minutes in, then settled in themselves offensively. Rancourt was on the giving end of Joe Bisson’s wraparound goal with 56 seconds left in the first to make it 2-0.

“I thought Biddeford came out hard,” Belleau said. “I thought they put a lot of pressure on us. I thought they got in passing lanes good. They try to make things difficult for us, and I thought they did a good job.”

“They did a lot of things that we expected,” Belleau added. “It really boils to execution and hard work. If we execute and work hard we usually can deal with the situation. I thought our execution was a little off today. I thought particularly in the first period we didn’t work as hard as we could have.”

Magnant’s second chance at a goal was a successful one less than two minutes into the second, scoring just eight seconds into the game’s first power play to cut the Tigers’ deficit to one.

As they did throughout the game, the Blue Devils answered a Biddeford goal with one of their own. Cole Ouellette flipped a shot from the left corner in off Larnerd to make it a two-goal game once again midway through the period.

“That’s a big thing that we focus on, getting the next one,” Rancourt said.

Lewiston’s first power play of the game was a short, lasting just 16 seconds before the Blue Devils took another penalty of their own. But Alex Robert scored 4-on-4 anyway, finishing a 2-on-1 from Ouellette with four minutes left in the second to make it 4-1.

The Tigers kept trying to claw back, scoring twice in the third, only for Lewiston to respond back within two minutes. Max Mourmouras and Colin Lavigne had third-period goals for Biddeford. Cody Doyon and Joe Bisson had the answers for the Blue Devils.

Dustin Larochelle capped off the scoring with a power-play goal just inside the final minute. Lewiston’s 5-on-4 goal came after Biddeford was called for a penalty with backup goalie Owen Sullivan pulled and the Tigers on a man-advantage of their own.

Jacob Strout stopped 20 of 23 shots for the Blue Devils in one of his busiest games of the season.

“They had a few flurries down low. But a lot of their shots were from the outside, which was good, and he was able to make the first save,” Belleau said.

After playing one of their best games of the season against rival St. Dom’s last Friday, according to Belleau, the Blue Devils had what Rancourt called not their best showing against a quality opponent in Biddeford.

“Look, do I think the kids played their best game? No. But did they play good enough to win? Yeah,” Belleau said.

Lewiston’s Jeromey Rancourt muscles his way around Biddeford’s Tyler Laflamme as he brings the puck up the ice during the first period of Wendnesday night’s game in Lewiston.

Lewiston’s Dustin Larochelle fires a point blank shot on Biddeford goalie Justin Larnerd during the first period of Wendnesday night’s game in Lewiston.