LEWISTON – It was only a matter of time before Maineiacs forward Alexandre Picard, last June the No. 8 overall pick in the NHL entry draft, started to capitalize on his scoring chances.

On Wednesday Picard gave the home crowd of 2,104 fans reason to believe he has broken out of his season-opening scoring drought, scoring three goals and adding an assist to lead Lewiston to a 6-4 win over the Halifax Mooseheads, evening the team’s record at 3-3-3 through nine games.

“I have had a lot of chances in the last eight games,” said a visibly relieved Picard following the game. “As long as the team wins, it is O.K, but it was nice to finally get it.”

Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin was also all smiles at the mention of Picard’s breakthrough game.

“It’s not like he wasn’t getting the chances,” said Jodoin. “But it is very good for him and for the team that he got a goal.”

The night didn’t start well for the home team, playing at the Colisee for just the second time this season. Halifax tallied two quick goals less than two minutes into the game, and the Maineiacs looked flat defensively.

“We were second to the puck and we lost all of the one-on-one battles,” said Jodoin. “The first period was bad.”

With about eight minutes to play in the first frame, though, Lewiston netminder Jaroslav Halak made what turned out to be the save of the game with Halifax on the power play.

“If they go up 3-0 there, and they could have, that is a very big goal for them and it is really hard for us,” said Jodoin. “That was the save of the game.”

“The first goals, I did not see the puck well,” said Halak. “After that I settled down and kept my focus.”

With less than a minute to go and the Maineiacs on a 5-on-4 power play, Picard notched his first of the game after a quick shot by Mathieu Aubin bounced off of Halifax netminder Jason Churchill and sat in the crease. Picard wheeled to his backhand and fired it off the right post and into the net.

“It was supposed to be him scoring this year,” said Picard’s linemate Alex Bourret, who had a goal and two assists Wednesday. “It is good now that we are both putting the puck in the net.”

In a see-saw second period, Halifax again took a two-goal lead early, getting a goal from Petr Vrana just 23 seconds in, extending the Mooseheads’ lead to 3-1. Three straight goals by the Maineiacs, by Picard, Marc-Andre Daneau and Bourret gave Lewiston its first lead on the night, and Aubin put the Maineiacs ahead for good at the 19:33 mark with his third of the year.

Auburn native Colby Gilbert assisted on Daneau’s goal after a nice feed from Pierre-Luc Champagne, giving the former Edward Little forward his first point in the league. It was also Daneau’s first QMJHL goal.

On a set play with less than a minute to go in the game, Picard added his third goal on an empty net on a flip pass from Bourret with 52 seconds remaining in the game.

The Maineiacs return to the Colisee ice on Friday when they host West Division-leading Gatineau at 7 p.m. Lewiston tied Gatineau on Monday.