MAINEiacs even up series against Montreal 1-1

Olivier Dame-Malka had an afternoon of historic proportions on Saturday, playing in front of his family and friends in game two of the Lewiston MAINEiacs' best-of-seven series against the Montreal Junior. Dame-Malka lit the lamp four times, helping his team to a 6-2 victory, evening the series at one game each.

Both teams found the twine in the first period with power play goals. The Junior opened the scoring at the 3:57 mark, when Charles-Olivier Roussel rang a shot in off of the crossbar from the side of the right circle. Later in the period, Lewiston pulled even, as Olivier Dame-Malka rifled in a slap shot from the right point.

In the second period, Montreal jumped out to a 2-1 lead. Philippe Lefebvre took a shot from the top of the right circle that got bounced around in the slot. The loose puck found Jeremy Gouchie's stick, and with an empty net in front of him, Gouchie deposited the marker. With 19 seconds remaining in the frame, Lewiston tied the score, as Sam Carrier set up Olivier Dame-Malka for a one-timer from the right point, which he drilled into the top part of the net.

With the score tied at two, the MAINEiacs exploded, netting four tallies in the final eight minutes of the contest. Olivier Dame-Malka fired home his third and fourth goals of the afternoon, using slap shots to find the twine on both. With 2:20 to go, Antoine Houde-Caron iced the win with an empty netter, before Pierre-Olivier Morin's power play goal was scored with ten seconds remaining. Dame-Malka assisted on Morin's tally, giving him a five-point game.

Nicholas Champion was splendid between the pipes for Lewiston, turning aside 32 of the 34 shots he faced in the win. Jean-Francois Berube allowed five goals on 32 shots in the loss.

The MAINEiacs and Junior will now head to Lewiston for games three and four of the series, with game three taking place at 7:00 on Tuesday night.