There was no charm on the third try, only more disappointment.

For the third time in three games, the Lewiston Maineiacs hung their heads low skating off the ice Friday night, a three-time loser to the Drummondville Voltigeurs.

This time, like in the two meetings last week, the Volts lit up the team’s defense and goaltending, skating off with an 8-3 victory over the visiting Maineiacs in front of 2,342 at the Marcel Dionne Centre.

“They’re a good hockey team,” Maineiacs’ coach Ed Harding said. “We had a game plan coming in, and they’ve showed me they can do it.”

The Maineiacs fared well early, much like in the teams’ last meeting. Lewiston and Drummondville skated into the first intermission even at 0-0, though the Volts held a slight advantage in shots, 6-5.

“We came out and played a marvelous first period, the guys were playing together, they’re playing hard, following the game plan,” Harding said.

Things got even better for Lewiston early in the second. Max Gratchev and Pier-Olivier Morin scored less than five minutes apart to put the Maineiacs on top, 2-0.

Then, things fell apart.

Peter Delmas let in a soft goal on a dump-in by Mike Hoffman 1:01 later, and the floodgates opened. The Volts scored four unanswered goals to cap the second period.

“I don’t know whether we thought it was going to be too easy,” Harding said. “We have to learn how to sustain a little bit of a momentum swing, whether it’s icing the puck a little bit or blocking a shot. We didn’t do a good job of that.”

In the third, Drummondville struck for two more quick goals before Harding pulled Delmas. Philip Wright hardly fared better, allowing two goals on 13 shots in netter than 14 minutes of work.

Lewiston will practice Saturday and head to Rimouski for a Sunday matinee against the Oceanic, who beat Victoriaville 5-3 on Friday night.