LEWISTON — It was a one-two punch that might have knocked the Lewiston boys’ hockey team off its skates for a moment, but it didn’t take long for the Blue Devils to bounce back up and counter-punch Saturday night.

St. Dom’s scored twice early but couldn’t knock the Blue Devils out completely. Lewiston shrugged off the quick deficit and roared back for a 4-2 win over the Saints.

“It was hard, but we knew we were bringing it to them,” said junior forward Ben Wigant, who scored the game-winner in the second. “We were in their zone more. I looked at my linemates and said, ‘We can do this.’ We were on them constantly and keeping it in their zone. We felt confident even though we were down 2-0.”

St. Dom’s connected early for two quick ones on goals by freshman Dakota Keene. Lewiston quickly rallied with a pair of Ryan Lemelin goals that had the game tied before the first period was over. Wigant put Lewiston in the lead early in the second. Lewiston netminder Cam Poussard was strong, especially in the third as the Saints outshot Lewiston 9-1 through the first 10 minutes. Poussard finished with 23 saves.

“We played well,” said St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette, whose team was ranked third behind second-ranked Lewiston in the latest Eastern A standings. “The guys gave an effort for three periods and skated well. The third, they played really hard. If you look at the ice, there was no snow on our side. The only thing we could have done better tonight was to get a few more shots and some action up front and in close. Other than that, our guys did well and did what we asked.”

The Blue Devils (4-0) came out strong and produced some quality shots early, but it was St. Dom’s that made the biggest noise. The Saints (3-2) scored twice in 27 seconds to take a stunning 2-0 lead.

Keene burst down the left side for a wrister at 6:08. Then St. Dom’s hemmed Lewiston in again and Keene deposited his second of the night. Nate Bergeron slipped him a pass at the left post, and Keene buried it at 6:35.

“To start 2-0 was certainly tough, particularly when the first seven or eight minutes we pretty much dominated the first period,” said Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau. “We were disappointed going down 2-0, but the flipside of that is we showed a little character in coming back. That was important.”

St. Dom’s momentum didn’t last long though. Lewiston came roaring back in short order. Lemelin scored on an odd-man rush with 7:58 left in the first. He then maneuvered around the Saints defense for a nifty goal with 31 seconds remaining to tie it.

“Ryan came up big,” said Belleau. “He’s got a lot of speed and he’s starting to get his confidence.”

Lewiston continued to roll with the go-ahead goal in the second. Wigant came out of the corner and fired a wrister from the right circle at 4:42. Both teams had power play opportunities in the second but couldn’t capitalize.

“I saw my defenseman,” said Wigant.” I was just yelling for it. I could see I had a lane. It bounced off my stick, and I reached out for it with one hand and got a piece of it. I saw the right corner and put it right there.”

The Saints had a power play early in the third when Lemelin was whistled for an elbow. St. Dom’s was blanked on that opportunity but nearly had the equalizer when Spencer Martin broke in alone for a backhander. He had a defender diving from behind to break up the play and Poussard got a piece of the shot to thwart that bid with 11:15 left. The Saints got another power play chance with 9:21 left when Sam Cloutier was called for roughing. St. Dom’s couldn’t get much of a shot during the man advantage but continued to pressure Lewiston down the stretch. Poussard finished strong and stymied the Saints in the final minutes. He dove to poke the puck away from Alex Parker in the slot and then covered up the puck with 5:30 left and foiled a backhander by Keene with 4:48 remaining.

His best save might have been the stop of a Dylan Rodrigue shot and the subsequent save to his right on Trevar Haefele with three minutes left.The Saints outshot Lewiston 12-5 in the third overall.

“He was disappointed,” said Belleau of Poussard giving up the two early goals. “He’d be the first to tell you that he puts a lot of pressure on himself. He’s our backbone. He let in the first goal. He gave up his post and didn’t take the shooter. He knew that. The second goal was one he felt he could have had. We talked after the first period and said OK, we’ve got your back. It’s a 0-0 game. Let’s see what you can do.’ We were able to pop a few more goals.”

The Saints called time out with 2:08 left and pulled the goalie with 1:48 remaining, but Lemelin foiled that plan by stealing the loose puck and scoring an empty-net goal with 1:41 left.

“Overall, the whole night was a well-played game,” said Ouellette.”These two teams come out and battled for 45 minutes. ”