The Maineiacs are going to have to wait at least two more days to celebrate their first win of the season.

After Lewiston took an early lead, Steve Bernier and Bruce Graham scored goals seven seconds apart midway through the first period to put Moncton ahead for good as the Wildcats thwarted the Maineiacs’ attempt at their first win, winning 4-2 in front of 3,159 fans at the Moncton Coliseum on Sunday.

“I am disappointed because we lost,” said Maineiacs’ coach Clem Jodoin, “but the players never gave up. We competed hard and finished our checks, and look at the shots on net. We gave them a few soft goals that made the difference in the game.”

The game itself was a shooting gallery for the goaltenders, with the teams combining for 82 shots on goal. Maineiacs’ rookie netminder turned aside 34 pucks in the loss, while veteran Moncton goalie Corey Crawford stopped 42 to pick up his third win of the young season.

The brightest spot on the afternoon for the Maineiacs was Alex Bourret, who potted both goals and now has three on the season. Bourret also had a team-high nine shots on goal, and led the team with four penalty minutes.

“He is a great player,” said Jodoin. “He did well today, and I had three scouts come to me after the game and ask me about him. The biggest thing with Alex will be playing consistently. If he does that, he will be very, very good.”

It was Bourret that started the scoring at 8:29 of the first period on passes from Jonathan Paiement and Travis Mealy. Moncton responded two minutes later – twice – on goals by Bernier and Graham on two missed faceoff assignments.

Christian Gaudet stretched the Moncton lead to two less than two minutes into the second period with an assist by Luke Pelham on a shot that slid by Jonathan Bernier (0-1-1).

In the third, after Martin Karsums scored shorthanded to push the score to 4-1, Bourret added another, again on a strong play by Paiement on the power play to cap the scoring.

“It was a good game, and entertaining game for the fans,” said Jodoin. “There was certainly no trapping involved, just up and down hockey. If it was 5-1 and they had 40-19 or something in shots, it would have been bad, but it was a close game on the road against a good team.”

Lewiston concludes it season-opening Maritimes road trip on Tuesday with a matchup against Cape Breton in Sydney, Nova Scotia before coming back to Lewiston for its home opener on Friday.