A prime opportunity to take the lead late in the third period backfired Tuesday, and like so many bounces this season, this one went against the Lewiston Maineiacs.

Daniel Pettersson tipped in a short-handed, sharp-angle shot by Scott Brannon at 14:30 of the third period to score the game-winner, lifting homestanding Moncton to a 2-1 win over the Maineiacs, spoiling a stellar performance by goaltender Adrien Lemay and sending Lewiston to its 10th consecutive loss of the season.

“This was a team that was ready to be beaten tonight,” Maineiacs’ coach Don MacAdam said of Moncton. “They had a number of injuries and were short several players, and we had three forwards who had perhaps their worst game of the year. We can’t be having three of our 12 forwards, that’s a whole line, playing poorly right now.”

Pettersson’s goal was originally credited to Brannon, who had scored the Wildcats’ previous goal back in the second period. The replay showed that Brannon’s shot from the boards at a very tight angle to the cage actually clipped Pettersson’s stick on the way toward the net.

“They came in on a 2-on-2, (Brannon) threw it toward the net and our defenseman hadn’t wrapped up his man coming toward the goal and he got a stick on it,” MacAdam said.

Lemay finished with 30 saves on 32 shots, and had kept the team close, particularly during a stretch of the second during which the Maineiacs were shorthanded for a full five minutes.

“Adrien was outstanding tonight, as usual,” MacAdam said. “Certainly he wasn’t the problem. We’ve come in here and allowed three goals against (not counting a late empty-netter in the last meeting), you’d think with a 1.5 goals-against average we’d have earned at least a point in there somewhere.”

Pier-Olivier Morin’s penalty for a hit from behind in the second led to that five-minute power play, and Moncton capitalized quickly, with Brannon scoring just 10 seconds into the man-advantage.

Lemay held the fort for the rest of the penalty, and in the third, Billy Lacasse scored the first goal for Lewiston in Moncton this season in two games, slipping through the defense and burying his chance at the 8:24 mark.

Matt Brown appeared to give Lewiston a late advantage when he was whistled for a penalty, but the Maineiacs’ anemic power play not only failed to score, but gave up the short-handed bid to Pettersson, costing the team the game.

The Maineiacs return to action Thursday in Cape Breton, their second game in a four-game Maritimes road swing. Game time Thursday is 6 p.m.