Anthony Pototschnik scored on his team’s fourth shot in the league’s first shootout of the season Friday night, lifting the St. John’s Fog Devils to a 3-2 win over the Lewiston Maineiacs in front of 6,147 at Mile One Stadium.
“I don’t think we played smart tonight,” said assistant coach Ed Harding. “There were some things we didn’t take advantage of. We had some things go well for our first game, but we didn’t really move the puck. Instead of making things easy for ourselves, we made it harder.”
Brandon Verge, meanwhile, continued to be a thorn in his former team’s side.
Last season, Verge posted a 2.31 goals-against-average and a .926 save percentage in five games while playing for Chicoutimi, including a shutout win.
Taken in the expansion draft by the Fog Devils (2-1), Verge had another crack at the Maineiacs and he gave the vibrant home crowd plenty to cheer about.
Verge made 43 saves, and four more in the shootout, including acrobatic glove saves on Stefano Giliati with 12:13 to play and another on Chad Denny with 10 minutes left.
“Nothing taken away from Verge,” said Harding. “He’s a good kid and he played a very good game for them. He stopped Denny a few times in the slot.”
Lewiston outshot the Fog Devils 45-26, but were largely frustrated by Verge’s play in regulation.
“It was all individual work, though,” said Harding, who watched as the Maineiacs squandered a 4-on-3 to open overtime.
“It was like one-on-three.”
Wesley Welcher scored for St. John’s at 6:27 of the final frame on a long slapshot through traffic. The assists went to Sebastien Bernier and Luke Gallant.
Pier-Luc Champagne knotted the score at two with 5:51 to play on a rebound off a Marc-Andre Daneau shot.
Lewiston appeared to take a 1-0 lead with 15 minutes to play in the second period when Jakub Bundil, fresh from the penalty box, broke in alone on Verge. His shot hit iron and was originally ruled a goal by the on-ice officials.
After conversing with the goal judge, though, the officials reversed their decision and took the goal off the board.
Thirty seconds later, Fog Devils captain Scott Brophy capitalized on a give-and-go with Marty Doyle to put the home team ahead 1-0.
At the end of the play, the Fog Devils took a roughing penalty, and the Maineiacs made them pay. Lewiston scored its first goal of the season when Mathieu Aubin finished a chance against Verge on the ensuing power play, just 1:11 later.
Despite the shootout loss, Lewiston earned one point, while the Fog Devils earned two with the win.
Lewiston will face St. John’s again on Monday and Tuesday, with both teams getting two days off because of a pair of concerts at Mile One Stadium on Saturday and Sunday.
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