LEWISTON — After dominating most of the first two periods Wednesday night, the Lewiston hockey team didn’t have a lot to show for it.

Despite their efforts, the Blue Devils found themselves tied entering the final period. Though Lewiston had controlled much of the game, the Blue Devils had let down just enough to allow Messalonskee back in. So, with the final period ahead, Lewiston knew what needed to be done.

“We knew we had to get back to the basics,” said Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau. “We had to do what we knew we could do well, which is put the puck in the zone and be aggressive on the forecheck. Then we had to be patient with our opportunities.”

Lewiston did just that in the final period and dominated as it did in the first. Lewiston produced just one goal, but it was enough for a 3-2 victory over the Eagles.

“It definitely was a tighter game than we wanted,” said Belleau. “I thought we played particularly well in that first period. I think we outshot them (17-3) in the first period, and we were getting good scoring opportunities. I was pleased with the way we played.”

It was a pair of five-on-three penalties that opened the door and allowed Messalonskee back into the game, but Lewiston responded well in the final period. The Blue Devils out shot the Eagles 16-3 in the third and got a Ryan Lemelin goal to earn the victory.

“I was just hoping we could get some more goals,” said Lemelin, a junior forward. “We didn’t really play good in the second period. We wanted to come out and show them that we were the better team.”

The game-winner came 5:49 into the third period.  Nick Mathon made a nice rush from center ice and wheeled around a couple Messalonskee defenders. His shot was stopped at the right post, but nobody picked up Lemelin trailing on the play.

“Nick just shot it on net,” said Lemelin. “I was just looking for the rebound to see if anything would come out so I could pop it in.”

Lewiston (4-0) outshot the Eagles 17-3 in the first period but looked as though they might have to settle for a moral victory. The Blue Devils peppered Messalonskee goalie Nate DelGiudice but the sophomore netminder blanked the Blue Devils for much of the period.

Lewiston’s persistence eventually paid off. With 1:26 left in the period, the Blue Devils finally put one past the Messalonskee goalie. Joey Fournier was left alone in the slot and converted a pass from Mathon behind the net.

The Blue Devils appeared to be well on their way to a knockout punch in the second. Lewiston made it 2-0 on the power play at 3:06. DelGiudice made a sprawling save on Sam Cloutier but Ben Wigant was there to put in the rebound. Another Messalonskee penalty gave Lewiston opportunity to build the lead, but the Eagles (3-2) survived that power play and got a man advantage of their own. This was a five-on-three and it changed the entire tempo of the game. Sam Dexter’s wrister from the left side beat Lewiston’s Cam Poussard for a power play tally at 6:10. 

Cam Berard nearly tied on the second penalty of that extended man advantage but another Lewiston flurry of bad penalties set Messalonskee up again. The Eagles had a two-man advantage for 1:28 late in the period. It was Dexter again that tipped in a loose puck with 4:26 left for the power play goal that evened the game at 2-2.

“We fell victim to a couple penalty calls,” said Belleau. “We gave a well-coached team and a hard-working team some life, and they took advantage of it. They made it difficult, but it doesn’t surprise me about Messalonskee.”

The game featured two of the best netminders in the state with DelGiudice and Poussard. Messalonskee’s netminder faced 51 shots and made 48 saves while Poussard saw just 16 shots and made 14 stops.

“With the exception of the two power play goals, we pretty much controlled the game,” said Belleau. “We were very strong and aggressive in the offensive zone. We created a lot of scoring opportunities. Nate DelGiudice is an all-state goalie, and we pretty much had the game in hand until we took those penalties.”