MAINEiacs’ Comeback Falls Short, 7-5
For the tenth time in eleven games, the Lewiston MAINEiacs lit the lamp five times, and for the second game in a row, Etienne Brodeur netted a hat trick. Unfortunately for Lewiston, the Victoriaville Tigres also had a strong offensive performance, as they picked up a 7-5 win in front of 2,406 fans at Colisee Desjardins.
The Tigres came out with some jump in the early goings, needing a little more than a minute to score the game’s first goal. Yanni Gourde found Brandon Hynes in the slot, who knocked the puck off the heel of his stick. Although Hynes didn’t get all of the shot, he got enough to send it tumbling in. Less than eight minutes later, Victoriaville doubled the lead. Philippe Maillet centered a pass to Guillaume Goulet, who split Nicholas Champion’s legs. At the end of the period, Lewiston got within one, thanks to a power play goal. Kirill Kabanov searched around the zone, and found Olivier Dame-Malka at the point. Dame-Malka let a one-timer go, getting a redirect from Etienne Brodeur to beat David Honzik along the ice.
Midway through the second period, the Tigres found their energy once again, scoring three times in 2:41. Philippe Maillet scored the first of those goals, powering in a rebound from the right side of the crease. 32 seconds later, Benjamin Laliberte took advantage of a fortunate bounce, as Champion had come out to play the puck behind his goal. Instead, with the help of a teammate, Laliberte was found in front with an open net. 2:09 after that, Phillip Danault finished off a 2-on-1 with Yannick Dube, barely sliding the puck past backup goaltender Andrey Makarov. The MAINEiacs got one back nine seconds later, as Etienne Brodeur scored into the upper portion of the net from Pierre-Olivier Morin.
Yanni Gourde put Victoriaville ahead by four at the 3:28 mark of the third, but the MAINEiacs threw just about everything they could find at the Tigres, ultimately cutting the deficit down to one. Bryce Milson got Lewiston’s third goal, using a deflection by Bohumil Jank to beat David Honzik. Less than three minutes later, Etienne Brodeur brought the MAINEiacs within two, picking up his second hat trick in as many games off of a feed by Michael Chaput. Then, with 4:06 remaining, Lewiston also got a fortunate bounce, as Jonathan Parisien’s dump in from center deflected off of the end boards and into the crease. Antoine Houde-Caron took the early birthday present, making the score 6-5.
Lewiston came inches away from tying the game in the final two minutes, but the Tigres capped off their win with Philip Danault’s empty net goal in the final six seconds.
David Honzik got the win for Victoriaville, making 27 saves on 32 shots. Andrey Makarov suffered the loss, stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced in relief of Nicholas Champion, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots.
The MAINEiacs and Tigres will play the back end of their weekend series on Sunday at 4:00. Lewiston’s next home game takes place on January 28th, when they host the Rimouski Oceanic at 7:00.
