St. Dom’s has been a yo-yo of a team early this season, but with very good reason. The Saints have played against some of the top teams in Maine and held tough in each of those games.

Just this week, the Saints lost to Biddeford with five ticks left on the clock and earned a win over Brunswick in overtime. In all, five of the team’s nine games have been decided by one goal.

“We’ve had a tougher schedule than (Lewiston) has so far,” St. Dom’s coach John Pleau said. “There hasn’t been an easy game on our schedule yet.”

St. Dom’s thinks it’s found the key to winning tonight: Contain the Devils’ top line.

“If you look at their blowouts they’ve had so far, it’s been mostly one line doing all of the damage,” Pleau said. “We need to keep them off the scoresheet, and I think we’ll be OK.

Goaltending has been an issue for St. Dom’s, or at least, it had been until this week. For whatever reason, Pleau’s tandem decided that this week would be the week to start playing in ernest.

It’s worked. The Saints have a top goaltending tandem to protect the back end.

The other big factor for the Saints is speed. They have plenty of it. The team’s top three lines will roll all night, and that depth of speed and scoring ability will serve St. Dom’s well late into the third period, especially if Lewiston decides to shorten the bench.

“We’ve been able to wear teams down this year using all three lines,” Pleau said.

Defensively, the Saints have the edge in experience, too. The team’s blue line has been stingy in most games this season, keeping shot totals low.

Solid defense, a stalwart goaltending tandem and speed are the keys to frustrating the Devils on this night.