LEWISTON — Clem Jodoin was incensed.

The Lewiston Maineiacs’ head coach grabbed a stick from one of his players, stood on the top of the boards and smacked the blade against them.

“I was angry, very angry,” said Jodoin. “But that was no way for a leader to act. It gave the other team a power play, and it was wrong. I apologized to my players between the second and third periods.”

Jodoin was upset about a series of calls against Lewiston, which left the home team shorthanded for 10 of the period’s 20 minutes.

Whether it was the banging stick, the apology, or some other motivational trigger, the Maineiacs responded in the third period to put away the hard-hitting and feisty Prince Edward Island Rocket, 5-2, in front of 2,833 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Saturday.

“The game changed when Clement Jodoin stood on the boards and banged his stick,” said PEI coach Yanick Jean. “We had a 5-on-3 goal against in the third, and another one right after, but the game had already changed.”

With the win, Lewiston (15-5-0-2) moved into first place overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, one point ahead of idle Gatineau and Cape Breton. Lewiston still has two games in hand on Cape Breton, and has played the same number of games as the Olympiques.

Jonathan Bernier played arguably his best home game of the season, which certainly helped the Maineiacs. The stalwart goaltender made 34 saves on 36 shots, including two point-blank stops on PEI captain David Laliberte and a host of others through traffic while Lewiston killed off its slew of penalties in the middle period.

“I made some big saves in the second, I was getting pretty tired,” said Bernier. “But I helped to keep us in the game on those, and the team got some goal in the third to help me out.”

“He was big for them tonight,” said Jean. “We had the chances. He is one of the best goalies.”

On the other end, Antoine Lafleur had a tougher evening. Two of the Maineiacs’ four goals with him in front of the cage hit the PEI netminder first, only to trickle behind him.

“It’s like if your star player sits out for two weeks, you can’t expect him to come right back and score two goals,” said Jean. “For a backup, he played like we needed him to play.”

Lafleur made 36 saves on 40 shots.

The teams fanned the flames as early as the second period Saturday night, and by the end of the third, tempers boiled.

Lewiston forward Stefano Giliati, with a full head of steam, plowed into PEI defenseman Pierre-Luc Lessard on the forecheck. Giliati caught Lessard from behind and sent him head-first into the boards. As blood gushed from Lessard’s forehead, Giliati was sent off the ice with a major penalty and a game misconduct.

In the third, Mathew Lachaine took a roughing call, and Marc-Andre Gragnani followed that with a hook to give Lewiston a 5-on-3.

Eric Castonguay converted a set play into a goal at 7:06 to give Lewiston a 3-2 edge, and Michal Korenko potted his first of the season on his fourth point of the weekend at 8:18.

“It was good to finally get one,” said Korenko, who was set up perfectly by a patient pass from forward Simon Courcelles at the right dasher.

“His back was to me,” said Korenko. “I called for the puck, he saw me and I was all alone. I went toward the net and shot it 5-hole on the goalie.”

Stefan Chaput netted his fifth of the season, but his first at home, into an empty net at 18:08 to cap the scoring.

As time expired, several players got into shoving matches, and several Rocket skaters tried to goad their Lewiston counterparts into fights.

Marc-Andre Cliche of Lewiston and Lessard traded goals in the first period, and the teams evened up at 2-2 after the second thanks to goals from Pierre-Luc Faubert for Lewiston and Chris Doyle for the Rocket.

Lewiston continues its homestand on Thursday night with the first of a two-game series against the Halifax Mooseheads.

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