Ed Harding gave Stefano Giliati some advice Friday night. The Lewiston Maineiacs coach just didn’t know whether his forward was going to use it.

Giliati did just that in the shoot-out of a nailbiter with Moncton.

His goal lifted Lewiston to a 4-3 win over the Wildcats in front of 3,959.

Giliati used what Harding describes as a stutter-step move that forces the goaltender to slide across the crease. Once down and out, Giliati was able to slip the puck by Moncton’s Charles Lavigne.

“He’s made that move before,” said Harding. “I went up to him and told him ‘You’re going to shoot third. That move might work pretty good against this goaltender.’ I didn’t think he was going to use it at first. Then I think he thought about it. He didn’t tell me he was going to use it.”

Goaltender Peter Delmas followed Giliati’s goal with his third straight save in the shoot-out. Delmas finished with 26 saves.

“Peter Delmas played pretty solid in goal and did a good job in the shoot-out,” said Harding.

Lucas LaBelle had two goals for the Maineiacs. Patrick Cusack had the other. Lewiston rallied with two goals in the third period to force overtime.

“We said ‘Let’s get back to playing our style,'” said Harding, after watching a 1-0 lead slip away in the second. “We got the puck on the boards and used some of our speed and got a little lucky.”

In the shoot-out, LaBelle and Alexander Beaton were both stopped by Lavigne. Delmas kept it scoreless with saves on Jesse Biduke and Ted Stephens. Giliati scored on the third try against Lavigne. Then Delmas finished off the win with a stop on Mark Barberio.

“His best (save) was the first one,” said Harding. “The Biduke kid came in and made a nice move. He threw the pad out. It was a real good save.”

Lewiston got on the board first when LaBelle netted his first of the night at 13:09. Moncton answered with a pair in the second. Zach Sill scored at 10:15 followed by Matt Eagles on the power play at 11:23.

“Every time we play Moncton it’s a hard-fought battle,” said Harding. “They outplayed us in the second period. We were a little deep. We got away from our gameplan a little bit. Our shifts were too long. We were throwing long cross-ice passes. That’s goes against what our game plan is always about.”

Lewiston tied the game at 8:48 of the third when Cusack finished off assists by Stefan Chaput and Eric Gelinas. Eagles put Moncton back on top at 14:32 with his 22nd of the year. The Maineiacs got the equalizer at 15:13 when LaBelle scored his second of the night and ninth of the year. Beaton and Michael Ward had assists on the goal.

“Beaton took the puck down and got it off the boards,” said Harding. “He beat their D and flipped it into the front of the net. You never know what’s going to happen. It bounced off Lucas’ stick.”

Lewiston continues its road trip today and Sunday with games at P.E.I.