Maineiacs jump out to early lead; hold on for win in Montreal

The Lewiston Maineiacs didn’t suffer from bus leg syndrome on Wednesday night, despite a third period comeback by the Montreal Juniors, as the Maineiacs held on for a 5-4 victory in front 1,852 at the Verdun Auditorium.

For the first time since October 11, the Maineiacs scored the first goal on the road as Samuel Henley recorded his first career QMJHL goal at the 7:23 mark of the opening period. Fellow rookie Jean-Francois Plante and Eric Gelinas were credited with the assists

“We played a good game,” Lewiston Maineiacs head coach Don MacAdam said. “We played well in the first and second period and they (Montreal) had to come out hard in the third to get back in the game.”

When MacAdam sees his player’s crash to the net, he knows success will come.

“The other two goals were driving to the net,” he added. “It’s what we talk about all the time. It’s exactly what the situation we have success when we do that.”

The bounces kept coming for Lewiston as they made it 2-0 at 11:31 when Marco Desveaux redirected Sebastien Trudeau’s shot between the leg of Jean-Sebastien Berube on what seemed to be an innocent play.

“It was a long shot along the ice and it a bad goal on (Berube’s) part,” said MacAdam.

Montreal cut Lewiston’s lead in half with 4:20 to play in the first period as Trevor Parkes notched his ninth goal when he found daylight between Lewiston’s goaltender Adrien Lemay’s pads and the goal post.

The Maineiacs refused to back down as Alex Beaton regained the two-goal margin, 3-1, for the Maineiacs when he slammed a shot behind Berube just 1:27 after Parkes goal.

That would be it for Berube as Montreal’s head coach, Pascal Vincent; turn to 19-year old Jake Allen to defend the goal in the second period.

Berube let in three goals on eight shots.

Just as the Maineiacs five-on-three power play expired midway into the second period, Samuel Carrier extended the lead, 4-1, at 8:52 of the period when he ripped a slap shot which deflected off the crossbar past Allen.

Jean-Francois Plante made it 5-1 when he lifted a shot upstairs on Allen, who is a St. Louis Blues prospect, at 13:01 of the second period.

“All three (16-year olds) were excellent,” MacAdam stated. “They got some goals for us, and we are seeing very nice progression in their play.”

Montreal began to take over the play as 56 seconds later Parkes responded with his second goal of the game as Lewiston held a 5-2 lead after fourty minutes of play.

In the third period, Montreal continued the comeback, pulling to within a pair of goals, 5-3, at 3:56 as Parkes scored his third of the night for the hat trick, beating Lemay with a tricking shot.

“We were outshooting them and outhitting them (in the third),” MacAdam said. “They were looking to respond and not us letting up.”

Montreal certainly kept the pressure on right down to the final seconds of the game as Jeremy Gouchie lifted a shot over Lemay to pull Montreal within reach of tying the game with just 56 seconds left in the third period.

Lemay held his ground in the final seconds for his 10th victory as he made 22 saves in the win. Allen turned aside 12 shots in relief, taking the loss, while Berube made five saves on eight shots in the first period.

The Maineiacs went 0-for-7 on the power play, while not giving any power play opportunities to Montreal.

NOTES: Lewiston played short a defenseman for the majority of the game as Sam Finn was given a game misconduct for taking the helmet off Pier-Antoine Dion during a fight. Maineiacs captain Billy Lacasse was not in the lineup due to an undisclosed injury he suffered at practice on Tuesday. According to MacAdam he’s listed as day-to-day.

“He tried to go in the warm-ups, and he wasn’t strong enough to go. We will have to assess him tomorrow,” he said.

Lewiston has already been without Mathieu Gingras has missed the last few games with an abdominal strain and won’t likely hit the ice until sometime next according to MacAdam.

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