LEWISTON — Collectively, they have just one goal and 23 assists. Among them, there is one senior, a pair of juniors and three sophomores.

But in two games against Western Class A-leading Biddeford, the well-built, well-olied Lewiston defensive corps has allowed fewer than 40 shots. This season, the Devils have allowed just 290 shots to reach goalie Cam Poussard. In 15 games, Poussard has seen fewer than 20 shots per game on average. Chris Howat of Bangor is the only goalie to see fewer shots per game, but he’s also played in half as many.

After losing a promising young defenseman to injury in the first game, a triumvirate of experienced blueliners has stepped forward and taken with them a trio of underclassmen to shore up what has become one of the more dominant back ends in Class A hockey this season.

“People will ask me what I believe our strengths are,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “I tell them, depth, speed and size.”

It’s the latter of those three factors Belleau stressed in the offseason.

“When we lost to Waterville in the Eastern final last season, we had a team meeting, and we talked about getting into the weight room more,” Belleau said. “That was a critical step. We worked hard this summer on some cardio programs and some workouts designed to make us healthier and stronger. It helps, too, the natural growth of the kids as they mature into young adults.”

Size aside, Belleau said, finding a defenseman is easiest when there are no pucks on the ice.

“The ability of the defensemen to adapt to the speed of the game, their ability to understand that speed and quick feet are critical to play good defense, that’s what makes this work,” Belleau said. “To be a good defenseman, you have to be a good skater first, to be able to keep up with the top forwards and control the gaps.”

Scott Ouellette, a junior, has been with the varsity squad all three years he’s been in high school. So has classmate Cody Dussault. Senior Nick Mathon is also in his third season of full-time varsity play. All three started with former coach Norm Gagne. They’ve grown into a cohesive blue-line unit in two years under Belleau.

“We’re pretty experienced back there, that’s our biggest strength,” Dussault said. “Nick and I played together a little bit last year, and then all summer, so we developed that kind of chemistry.”

“We’ve all played together at some point, basically since squirts,” Ouellette said. “It helps a lot to know where everyone is going to be.”

Skating, they said, is essential to managing a game.

“As long as we’re conditioned, we can skate with anyone,” Ouellette said.

“(Belleau) always says, skating without the puck is the biggest thing,” Mathon added. “When we get the puck, we need to move right away instead of waiting. The more we skate, the less we stand still, the better we’ll be.”

And then there are the young’uns. Three sophomores — Jake Bergeron, Brandon Tiner and Jesse Leeman — form the second half of the six-man unit, with a fourth, Matt Melanson, shelved for the season due to injury.

“At this point, we rotate these guys in a lot,” Belleau said.

Bergeron, in particular, has seen a bit more ice time in recent games, but Belleau wasn’t afraid to throw Tiner or Leeman out against either St. Dom’s or Biddeford in a pair of recent high-profile games.

“(Bergeron) has good size and speed for a sophomore,” Belleau said, “and we’ve shown in the last few games we’re not afraid to put him out there more often. He’s seen a bit more time, because he’s demonstrated he can keep up with the speed of the game.”

Bergeron is also a poster-child for determination and perseverance. Last season, as a freshman, he was cut all together.

“We tell the kids every year at tryouts, it’s a blessing to have so many players out for the team every year,” Belleau said, “and we tell them even if they get cut, work hard at it and you never know what will happen the following year. If you’re serious about playing hockey for Lewiston, show up and give yourself a chance.”

“The younger guys help us out a lot, too,” Mathon said. “When we need a shift off, they step in, and they’ve really stepped it up this year and made it easier for us.”

The temptation would be for Belleau, in his home games especially, to match Ouellette, Mathon and Dussault against opponents’ top lines all game. But he doesn’t.

“In two seasons, I’ve never just marked a player,” Belleau said. “Are we aware when a team’s best player is on the ice, sure, but we built this team around good team defense.”

The other temptation for the Blue Devils would be to take some chances up front, knowing that the best goalie, statistically, in Maine, is in the blue paint behind them.

“We certainly play with confidence because we know we have a good goalie behind us,” Belleau said, “but we don’t let up because of it. Cam is human, too, and you have to assume he’s going to let in a goal every once in a while. We have to show that we can play consistent defense in front of him, especially late in the season and into the playoffs.”

Still, the players said, it’s nice to know they have a little bit of wiggle room.

“We know he’s good back there, and he’ll help us out if we make a mistake,” Ouellette said. “But we go out there and play and give it our all. If we do something we shouldn’t, we hope he’s there to back us up.”

With all of the stats out there in the sporting world, the Lewiston defensive unit isn’t so concerned with the gaudy, popular kind — goals, assists, points. The one that matters at the end of the day? Wins. At 12-2-1, Lewiston has plenty of those so far.