LEWISTON – This time, the 4-2 lead was enough.
Just in case, though, Ryan Murphy potted his second goal of the night at 4:47 of the final frame to lead the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 5-3 win over Drummondville in front of 2,931 fans at the Colisee on Friday, vaulting the team into seventh place in the overall standings.
Murphy and linemates Nick Cowan and Marc-Andre Daneau accounted for five of the team’s 14 points, with Murphy getting two goals and Cowan getting another on a Murphy assist.
“That’s the best thing about having three lines like we have,” said Murphy. “Other teams have to match up against all of them. Tonight we had a bit more room out there. I thought we had a good game against Quebec (on Tuesday), too.”
“Before the game, setting up the matchup was part of the plan,” added Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin. “I would say that that line, along with Jaroslav Halak, were the best players on the ice.”
Halak made 28 saves on the night, including two great saves on Drummondville forward Guillaume Latendresse on breakaways in the second period. Latendresse also had a goal and an assist for the Voltigeurs, and caused Maineiacs’ defenders fits all night.
“It was hard to beat them down low tonight,” said Maineiacs defenseman Brandon Roach. “They set picks in the corners all night, and (Latendresse) played a great game for them.”
The game was an exercise in emotion for most of the players, coming just four days after blowing a 4-2 lead in the final seven minutes against Quebec.
“Last game, we fell apart,” said Roach. “It wasn’t pretty tonight, either, but we hung in there, and the forwards came back to help out and close the gaps, which really helped.”
Jodoin agreed, even calling Tuesday’s game against Quebec a better game overall.
“Overall, (Drummondville) played well tonight,” said Jodoin. “They forechecked well and put a lot of pressure on us, but I still think our game Tuesday was better overall.”
Lewiston came out with guns blazing in the opening period, using goals from Murphy, Cowan and Derek Bailey to chase starting netminder Philippe Roberge after just six shots on net.
“We were way behind early,” said Drummondville coach Dominic Ricard. “You can’t start a game like that, especially on the road, and think you will win the game.”
After replacing the shaky netminder with Pier-Olivier Pelletier, Drummondville settled in. Early in the second, Alexandre Demers tipped home a feed from Latendresse to pull the Voltigeurs within two at 3-1.
Alexandre Picard made it 4-1 for Lewiston at 4:40 of the middle period after Sheldon Wenzel deked a Drummondville defender to the ice at the point, crept into the middle of the slot and ripped a wrister at Pelletier. The rebound fell to the ice in front and Picard poked it home.
Latendresse made it 4-2 at 10:47 when he caught Picard back on defense and moved in on Halak, turning Picard twice before firing the puck over Halak’s glove for the goal.
Murphy picked up a goal at 4:47 of the third to give the Maineiacs some breathing room that they would eventually need, as Louis-Philippe Martin picked up an unassisted goal for the Voltigeurs at 11:23 to again cut the lead to two.
Lewiston has now reached 25 wins at about the same time as last year. In 2004, Lewiston hit the 25-win plateau on February 11 against Quebec.
The Maineiacs return to the ice tonight, facing the PEI Rocket at 7 at the Colisee. PEI is coming off of a 6-2 loss in Quebec on Friday night.
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