LEWISTON — With one loud thump, Jean-Francois Berube turned the tide of a tight-checking, fast-paced battle between two of the top teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

The sound of puck meeting Berube’s white and red right leg pad echoed as the gathered crowd of 1,711 held its breath, and Lewiston forward Michael Chaput looked skyward in disbelief.

Berube’s Montreal Junior teammates gathered the rebound, pushed up the ice and, in similar 2-on-1 fashion Berube had stopped at the other end, powered the puck past Maineiacs netminder Nick Champion.

Trevor Parkes’ goal, his 13th of the season, silenced the buzzing crowd, and appeared to silence the Maineiacs’ bench. David Rose added another tally for the Junior later in the third, minutes after yet another Berube gem — this one a glove save on Christophe Lalonde in tight — and the Junior skated out of Lewiston Sunday night with a 5-3 win over the Maineiacs at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“The turning point was that 2-on-1,” Houle said without reservation. “We go down, 2-on-1, we don’t score, they come back down 2-on-1, they score. It’s part of hockey, it happens all the time. That cut our legs. On the bench, it was deflating.”

The loss is Lewiston’s third in a row, the first such streak for the team since the first week of the season.

“I don’t think we played a bad game, either,” Houle said, unapologetic for the team’s performance. “I thought it was a pretty good game overall.”

“It was a good game for sure, on the road like this” Montreal assistant coach Dominique Ducharme said. “They started very fast, and we were happy to get out only one goal behind after the first.”

In what felt like a recurring bad dream Sunday, the Maineiacs again encountered a hot hand between the opposing pipes. Despite a 34-30 advantage in shots in Lewiston’s favor, Berube allowed the three goals, and was instrumental in keeping the Maineiacs at bay, particularly in the third period.

“That’s the kind of saves we need from our goalies,” Ducharme said. “You cannot only rely on him, but to have the right saves at the right times is big for the team.”

“Sometimes, you can’t pick a corner because you’re so pressed to get the shot away,” Houle said, “but good goalies make good saves when they need to, and he did (Sunday). I’d be mad if we weren’t getting chances, but we’re getting chances.”

Nicholas Champion was the hard-luck losing goalie for the Maineiacs, stopping 25 of 29 shots in the loss.

Etienne Brodeur, meanwhile, got back on the scoresheet in a big way.

With Montreal on an early first-period power play, Brodeur beat Berube 5-hole with a wrister to put the Maineiacs in front, 1-0.

“It was a tough start today, but we got better as the game went on,” Ducharme said.

The remainder of the first period turned into a parade to the penalty box for Lewiston. In a 1:07 stretch, Michael Chaput, Cameron Critchlow and Carrier all found their way to the sin bin, putting the Maineiacs short a pair of players for more than two minutes. But Montreal could not score on the extended power play.

“I thought we played pretty disciplined tonight, besides the very beginning,” Houle said.

Lewiston didn’t take another penalty all game.

The Lewiston lead lasted as long into the second as the 0-0 deadlock lasted into the opening frame. With Jonathan Narbonne still writhing in pain inside his own zone after blocking a shot, Laflamme picked the top former over Champion’s glove side and evened the score at one.

The Junior added another at 12:12 when Parkes swiped the puck from a Lewiston defender behind the net with Montreal pressing while shorthanded. Parkes flipped the puck in front to Louis-Marc Aubry, who deked twice, shot, grabbed his own rebound off Champion’s pads and stuffed it into the cage for a 2-1 Junior lead.

Brodeur overpowered his man at the Montreal blue line, flew into the right corner and fed a cutting Cameron Critchlow in the low slot, where the Maineiacs’ captain slid the puck through Berube to knot things up at 2-2 late in the second on the power play.

After the pair from Montreal to put the visitors on top 4-2 in the third, the Maineiacs and Junior traded late third-period tallies, with Brodeur potting his second of the game and 26th of the season with the goalie pulled, and Parkes adding his second of the game into an empty net.

Lewiston’s tight schedule continues Tuesday with a contest at home against Baie-Comeau.