Coaches love to see aggression from players trying to earn a place on the squad, or a specific spot in the lineup, but when it’s detrimental to the team, that’s where they draw the line.

The Lewiston Maineiacs put themselves behind the eight-ball early with a host of penalties. Moncton jumped at the chance to work on its power play and excite its fans in the process.

The Wildcats scored five power-play goals on 11 chances, including three just 1:26 apart in the first period and two in the third to swamp the Maineiacs 7-3 in the teams’ penultimate preseason contest on Thursday.

“We hurt ourselves. We have to play a lot more disciplined than we did tonight,” Maineiacs’ coach J.F. Houle said. “I know some of them might think they have to play more aggressive and show what they’re made of, but when you play like this, it hurts the team. We have to be more disciplined.”

Charles Johnson, Daniel Milan and Ted Stephens all scored on the power play in the first to stake the ‘Cats to a 3-0 lead, lighting up Lewiston’s projected starter in goal, Nicholas Champion, for all three.

Olivier Dame-Malka and Sam Carrier replied for Lewiston to pull the Maineiacs to within one, but Marek Hrivik tacked on another, victimizing Champion for the fourth time on 13 shots in the opening frame.

“We’re just not playing defense in front of him, he’s not playing that bad,” Houle said of Champion.

Houle also pointed out that two defensemen he expects to be on the opening-night roster — Zach Shannon and Sam Finn — did not skate.

The scoring see-saw slowed, but continued in the second. Jess Tanguy netted his third of the preseason to again draw the visitors within one, and Hrivik answered with his second of the night to reestablish Moncton’s two-goal advantage.

Moncton’s Saulnier twins each tacked on a power-play tally in the third period to cap the scoring.

The same teams meet again Friday in their final preseason tuneup, this time in Fredericton, with Lewiston as the home team.

Two more cut

One player on the roster apparently played well enough Thursday to make the hockey operations staff think twice. Originally, the Maineiacs intended to cut three players after Thursday’s game. When announced following the game, though, the list was down to two — forward J.P. Harvey and defenseman Stephane Leblanc.

There was no word from the staff who might have been the third player on the chopping block. Team GM Roger Shannon also indicated that there may be a “couple more cuts” following Friday’s action.