Lewiston, ME – The Lewiston Maineiacs threw everything except the kitchen sink at Saint John Sea Dogs netminder Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault, but couldn’t find the back of the net as the Sea Dogs took a 3-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series with a 5-2 victory in front of 1,304 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“Throughout the game I thought we out chanced them,” said Lewiston Maineiacs head coach J.F. Houle. “I thought we had better chances then they did, but they found the back of the net and we didn’t. It’s a part of the game and their goalie is hot right now.”

“We just have to bounce back tomorrow and find a way to get those pucks in.”

It was the start that the Maineiacs needed. They stayed out of the box and kept the offensive pressure on Saint John throughout the period. The only thing that kept Lewiston off the board was Saint John goalie Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault, who stopped all ten shots he faced in the period.

”I thought we had a good first period,” said Houle. “We had a lot of chances to score and we didn’t score. When you have grade-A chances, you have to put it in the net. The puck was jumping around the net in front of their goalie, but I have to give credit to their goalie. I thought he made some very big saves.”

For all the things Lewiston did right in the first period, the second got off to a rough start. With Stefan Fournier in the box for hooking at the 1:27 mark, Jonathan Huberdeau notched his 12th of the playoffs only 29 seconds later with Michael Kirkpatrick and Zack Phillips getting the assists.

“That was a tough thing to swallow,” said Houle. “We weren’t playing bad. It was little turnovers that cost us. I thought all-in-all, it was a pretty good effort from our players. It’s really tough as a player to swallow.”

Thomas Jurco made it 2-0 Saint John as he dangled his way past Nicolas Champion at the 3:14 mark of the second period. The lone assist went to Steven Anthony.

The lead would be stretched to 3-0 when Ryan Tesink notched his second goal of the playoffs at the 7:01 mark. Huberdeau and Phillips each notched their second points of the period.

Lewiston got on the board when Kirill Kabanov notched his eighth goal of the playoff as the puck trickled past the goal line. Jess Tanguy and Samuel Carrier got the helpers.

“Kirill is playing real well right,” Houle added. “He’s probably one of the best players in the league right now. He had a late start because of the trade and the stuff that was going on in Moncton. We are real fortunate to have him. He’s a great player.”

“We doubled shifted him because when a guy is going well like that you got to play him, especially, when you are down a couple of goals.”

Nicolas Champion couldn’t cover the loose puck late in the second stanza and Mike Thomas would get credit for the goal with 1:34 remaining.

The start of the third period saw the Maineiacs turn to Andrey Makarov to man the net and just 23 seconds into the period, Christophe Lalonde cut the Maineiacs deficit in half with a goal. The assists went to Pierre-Olivier Morin and Samuel Finn.

“It’s part of hockey. You have to change your goalie to get momentum,” Houle stated. “I thought the fourth goal that went in, it trickled in – it gives confidence to the rest of the team. We went with the goalie change and I thought we played well in the third. We had some good chances, but we fell short tonight.”

Houle talked about the fourth line which was one of the team’s better lines.

”Christophe Lalonde and Francis Beauvillier played well,” said Houle. “They moved their feet and had a lot of energy out there. That’s what we need from all of our players. We can’t have players take a night off. You aren’t going to win against a team like Saint John.”

Stanislav Galiev would add the empty netter with 1:45 to play with Phillips and Simon Despres getting the assists.

Lewiston went 0-for-5 on the power play while Saint John went 1-for-5.

Nicolas Champion turned aside 18 shots in two periods while Makarov made seven saves in the third. Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault made 28.

Houle hasn’t decided on who he will go with on Wednesday night.

“I am going to sleep on this one and we will make a decision game-time tomorrow,” said Houle. “I was really pleased with Makarov, but Nick Champion brought us to the semifinals. He has played very well for us.”

NOTES: Michael Chaput and Olivier-Dame Malka are game-time decisions for tomorrow game. Malka left tonight’s game after a knee-on-knee collision with Danick Gauthier.