LEWISTON – The close calls, almosts and just-barely-hit-the-pipes are gone now for Colby Gilbert. With three goals in his debut season with the Lewiston Maineiacs, the former Edward Little High School forward had yet to tally one at the Colisee, where for years he scored goal after goal with EL, and with his youth hockey teams.
Friday, the maybes ended, while the Maineiacs’ winning streak continued.
Gilbert roofed a shot from the top of the crease that beat Baie-Comeau goaltender Loic Lacasse high to the blocker side. His shot came on a quick feed from behind the net by Maxime Mathieu at 16:59 of the second period, and broke a 2-2 deadlock. The Maineiacs gained momentum with that tally and went on to defeat the Drakkar 5-3 in front of 2,778 fans.
“It’s so good to finally get that,” said Gilbert. “More for the fans, I think, than anything. They’ve been waiting so long for it. I just hope there’s more coming.”
Alexandre Picard had two goals – the Maineiacs’ first of the game and the empty-netter to clinch the contest – and Alex Bourret had three assists in the win, Lewiston seventh consecutive win overall, and eighth win in a row at the Colisee. In all, the Maineiacs have won 10 of 12 and have picked up 21 of a possible 24 points in those games. In the general standings, Lewiston leapfrogged Shawinigan, which lost Friday, to claim seventh place overall. The Maineiacs remain two points back of sixth-place Rimouski, which won 9-1 over Moncton Friday, but gained ground on fifth-place Quebec, which lost to Drummondville. Quebec has 56 points, Rimouski has 55 and the Maineiacs have 53.
“The score doesn’t mean anything at this point in the season,” said Maineiacs’ coach Clem Jodoin. “It’s how you play. Their team, they played well. They played with discipline. They have discipline now. You see a change in the way they play, and we respect that team.”
The Drakkar actually jumped out to a 1-0 lead at 6:02 of the first when Nicolas Robillard knocked a rebound in past Maineiacs’ netminder Jaroslav Halak, prompting boos to rain down from across the arena.
“I think we came out in the first period strong,” said Drakkar coach Eric Dubois. “We came out strong on the first couple of shifts, but then we made a few mistakes, a few bad mistakes, and they got the momentum.”
Picard took care of swinging that momentum in the Maineiacs’ favor at 11:21 of the opening frame when he slammed a puck past Lacasse on one of many rebounds the Montreal Canadiens’ draft pick allowed early in the game.
“I’m glad you saw the same game I did,” said Dubois when asked about Lacasse’s shaky start. “We felt he was playing better after going through some rough times in November and December, and he was starting to play better. But every shot, he was looking behind him.”
Sheldon Wenzel scored his first goal in weeks to put the home team ahead 2-1 when he slapped a second-chance wrap-around home from the left post at 6:33 of the second period, but the Drakkar wrested the momentum back four minutes later when Alexandre Picard-Hooper snuck a rare rebound opportunity past Halak at 10:47.
Gilbert snapped that tie and woke the crowd with his goal at 16:59, and Jonathan Paiement notched his fifth of the year at 18:34 on a one-timer from the low slot on a feed from Bourret.
Also key for Lewiston Friday was the return to action (one week early) of Mathieu Aubin, who had been sidelined for two months with an upper body injury. Aubin had an assist on Wenzel’s goal.
“It was fun to get back out there,” said Aubin. “I played only on the power play and on the penalty kill, but I was happy to get back to playing, and it was good to get a point in my first game back.”
The Drakkar pulled to within one at 14:37 of the final frame on another Robillard tally, but Picard, on a nice feed from Bourret, iced the game with his empty-netter at 19:02.
The same two teams square off again tonight at the Colisee, again at 7 p.m.
Comments are no longer available on this story