Lewiston, ME – Philip-Michael Devos, Guillaume Goulet and Brandon Hynes each had a multiple-point night, providing all the offense the Victoriaville Tigres would need as they defeated the Lewiston Maineiacs, 4-1, in front of 2,651 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Thursday night.

The Maineiacs had ample chances to come back in the second and third periods, outshooting Victoriaville by a 20-15 margin over the final 40 minutes, but couldn’t get much past Tigres goalie David Honzik.

“He showed tonight why he’s an NHL prospect,” said Victoriaville head coach Yanick Jean. “He made key stops for us. We struggled finding our legs to start and he made some key stops and after that (Lewiston) only got one scoring chance in the second period.”

Down 1-0 in the first period, Victoriaville answered back by scoring three times to take a 3-1 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.

“I thought we played awesome in the first period,” said Maineiacs coach J.F. Houle. “We were all over them and then a couple bad penalties cost us and a couple clears on the (penalty kill) that we didn’t clear (the zone).”

With Antoine Houde-Caron (roughing) and Francis Beauvillier (hooking) serving minor penalties, the Maineiacs were down five-on-three for 1:50, and it appeared they might get out unscathed, only giving up one shot, but it was the one shot that got the ball rolling for Victoriaville.

A rebound off Maineiacs goalkeeper Nick Champion was left at the top of the crease where Goulet scored the first of his two goals on the night, firing the puck into the net at the 14:14 mark of the first period.

“I thought we did a good job killing that five-on-three,” said Houle. “The puck was laying there and probably hit three guys before going into the net.”

Less than three minutes later, at 16:59, Victoriaville made it 2-1 on a goal by Devos as he roofed the puck under crossbar on a wraparound, beating Champion.

Penalty trouble crept up again for the Maineiacs when Etienne Brodeur was sent to the box for goaltender interference at 19:24.

With eight seconds left in the first period, Goulet scored his second goal of the game with a slap shot from the left hash mark.

“After they got the three goals they played pretty good defensively,” said Houle. They scored more goals than us tonight.”

Goulet’s two goals, Devos’ goal and two assists and Brandon Hynes’ two assists proved to be the difference in the hockey game.

“We’re an offensive minded team,” said Jean, “but we had to come back and play defense and I was happy with how we played tonight.”

Lewiston opened the scoring in game on a goal by Jess Tanguy that sent a flurry of teddy bears to the ice as the Maineiacs held their teddy bears toss with all bears going to local charities in the Lewiston/Auburn area.

Tanguy stole of the puck from a Tigres’ defender at the top of the crease and lifted a backhand by Honzik for his only blemish in the game at 11:34 of the first period.

Prior to the goal, it was the Maineiacs who began the game with the momentum, not allowing a shot on goal for Victoriaville until just past the midway point of the first period.

They just couldn’t sustain it…

“We beat ourselves. We really beat ourselves,” said Houle.

Pierre-Luc Pelletier added an empty-net goal with 1:09 left in the game, extending the Tigres lead to 4-1.

Honzik made 32 saves for the win, while Champion took the loss after stopping 17-of-20 shots he faced.

NOTES: Maineiacs forward Étienne Brodeur missed part of the first period after needed stitches in the mouth area after being hit in the face with the stick by a Victoriaville player. Despite being in view of the officials and blood, no call was made on the play. Brodeur did return to play the second and third period.