LEWISTON – The effort was better. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough for a win.

Four different Lewiston skaters scored and Adrien Lemay was solid in net when he had to be as the Maineiacs upended the slumping Victoriaville Tigres 4-2 in front of 1,946 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Sunday afternoon.

“I felt Lemay was the difference early,” Lewiston coach Don MacAdam said. “He kept us from digging a little bit of a hole. In the middle of the game, I thought we were fine, and then late, Adrien was there for us again. I’m getting pleased with the way our defense is playing.”

Lemay’s solid saves were, at times, necessary, though the Maineiacs’ defense was much better as a whole Sunday than it was in Saturday’s 9-2 loss to Rimouski.

“Everytime I made a big save, we went down and scored on the other end,” Lemay said. “It’s all teamwork in that case.”

With just a one-goal lead to begin the third, the Maineiacs’ Pier-Olivier Morin took a feed from Danick Paquette between his legs and deked Victoriaville goalie Antonio Mastropietro to the ice before sliding the puck 5-hole. Morin’s goal was the second on the night by the team’s second line.

“It’s too easy to stop one line,” MacAdam said. “We actually asked for more offense from the Beaton line, and they’re starting to provide that.”

The Tigres got back within one when Jonathan Bonneau tipped home a shot by Travis McIsaac at 7:06, but Billy Lacasse gave the Maineiacs back their two-goal edge with a highlight-reel goal on a long outlet feed from Patrick Cusack through the center zone.

“Isn’t that nice when that happens?” MacAdam said with a smile. “Billy Lacasse framed this game from the beginning, saying we had to treat this like a playoff game, and to a man, the players did.”

Max Gratchev scored his third consecutive goal spanning two games in the first period Sunday, and gave the Maineiacs a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Gratchev’s goal was also a power-play goal, and would have made famed billiards pro Minnesota Fats a happy man. He executed a perfect bank shot off a Victoriaville skate from a tough angle after a deflected Eric Gelinas shot from the left point.

The Maineiacs are dead last in the league in power-play percentage, but has looked much better in recent games, minus the scoring.

Both teams felt the officiating was shoddy in the first period, which set the tone for a rough-and-tumble final 40 minutes. Lewiston forward Pier-Olivier Morin was hauled down from behind on a shorthanded breakaway with no call, and Lewiston’s Danick Paquette hit with his elbows high a couple of times, and he also drew no call from referee Marc-Andre Lavoie.

The Maineiacs struck quickly in the second and threatened to put the Tigres away early. Alex Beaton finished a pass from Paquette on a nice keep-in at the blue line by Sam Finn at 1:38 of the middle frame.

The Tigres climbed back into it at 4:53, though, when Chad Earle banged home his 11th of the season after the Lewiston defense left him wide open in front of Lemay.

“It’s not enough to just stay close all the time,” Yanick Jean said.

That was it for either team on the scoreboard, and a four-minute double minor to the Tigres’ Joel Chouinard for high-sticking resulted in the only completed power plays of the second period.