Gatineau hands Lewiston its first loss in six games.
The Lewiston Maineiacs’ five-game unbeaten streak ran into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s early-season buzzsaw Friday night.
Gatineau, which leads the Western Division by 10 points and has outscored its opponents by a two-to-one disparity through the opening month of the campaign, rallied from a short-lived, one-goal deficit and trounced the Maineiacs 7-3 before 3,121 at the Centre Robert-Guertin.
Jean-Michel Daoust and Renaud Des Alliers each scored two goals for Gatineau. David Tremblay made 24 saves.
Trailing 2-1 after one period, Gatineau used back-to-back goals by Daoust, his ninth of the season, and Petr Pohl, his eighth, in a two-minute span to snag the lead.
Lewiston (4-5-1) tied it 3-3 on Alexandre Picard’s team-leading 11th goal if the season at 4:05. Mathieu Aubin and Francis Trudel assisted the power-play tally.
The Olympiques struck again, however, scoring two more goals prior to intermission for a 5-3 lead. Daoust scored from Maxime Talbot and Doug O’Brien on the man advantage at 13:17, and Francis Wathier connected courtesy of Pohl and Martin Vagner with 2:54 remaining.
Des Alliers lit the lamp twice in the third period, his 10th and 11th goals of the year.
Gatineau (11-1-2) entered the game having scored 60 goals and allowed 30.
Undaunted by those numbers, the Maineiacs jumped out to the early lead on Vladislav Balaz’s second goal of the season at 4:01. Gabriel Balasescu and Picard assisted.
It took the Olympiques only 34 seconds to answer, with Dominic D’Amour delivering the equalizer from Des Alliers and Sam Roberts.
Lewiston used the first of two power-play goals to secure a 2-1 edge.
With Gatineau’s Olivier Labelle in the box, Balasescu picked up his fifth goal from Picard and Balaz.
The game was chippy through two periods. Among 23 infractions were three majors and a match penalty.
Lewiston goaltender Matthew Davis turned away 26 shots. Gatineau outshot Lewiston 17-7 in the pivotal middle stanza.
Having won four and tied one after its 0-4 start, Lewiston remained in last place in the Eastern division.
The Maineiacs continue their road swing with games at Val-d’Or tonight and Rouyn-Noranda on Sunday afternoon.
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