LEWISTON — Instant classic. Again.

With bone-crunching hits the norm and lock-down defense on full display, Kyle Holtet’s shorthanded tally in the second period held up as the only goal of the contest as St. Dom’s outlasted Lewiston 1-0 to earn the Eastern Class A regional title in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Tuesday, avenging a loss in the same game one year ago.

“This is right up there,” St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette said. “Last year, (Lewiston) had a very loaded team, but this year, they still had a lot of seniors on that team, and you know they’re going to come to play.”

Facing Lewiston for the first time since earning a win over his rivals in the teams’ first meeting of the season back in December, junior Grant Carrier stopped all 22 shots he saw to record the shutout.

“Getting the win the first time was definitely a great confidence booster,” Carrier said. “I showed myself I can definitely beat Lewiston.”

The decision to go with Carrier, Ouellette said, didn’t come easily, despite his previous result.

“(His previous win) factored in a little bit in the sense that we thought he might be in their heads a little bit,” Ouellette said. “Sometimes little subtleties like that come into making a decision. That was part of the basis tonight, but look what we’ve got in the past two games, it’s been unbelievable.”

Carrier was tested early, and plenty in the latter stages of the third, as the Devils tried to score the equalizer.

“It’s just take every shot one at a time, and just take care of business,” Carrier said. “(The last few minutes) were nerve-wracking. Multiple shots were just very scary.”

As for Holtet, his goal seemingly came out of nowhere. With the Blue Devils enjoying a power play — the tail end of a 5-on-3 that had turned to a 5-on-4 — Holtet scared up a turnover at the Lewiston blue line as the Devils’ defenders tried to lug the puck out of the zone. Holtet swiped the puck and bore down on Lewiston keeper Brian Wigant. He juked to the right, pulled the puck back to his left on his backhand and flipped the puck toward the cage. Seemingly with eyes, the puck snuck through Wigant and into the net behind him.

“(The defenseman) kind of hesitated at first and I just picked the puck up,” Holtet said. “I don’t know what he was trying to do, but I saw the hesitation and I went right at him.”

As for the shot?

“I’m more of a deker,” Holtet said. “I was pretty sure I was going to deke. Don’t have much of a shot. It went low blocker on the backhand.”

“They capitalized on a turnover. We made one mistake,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “The goaltenders played well, and both teams played defensively strong.”

It was the only blip of success for either team’s special units, who were a combined 0-for-11 on the power play.

And the hitting never stopped. The Blue Devils registered 38 hits to the Saints’ 32, many of from both teams of the bone-crunching variety.

“This was all-out hitting back and forth,” Ouellette said. “A lot of big hits out there, but we knew we had to be physical with these guys. Same thing against Bangor, we had to finish our checks.”

“It was a grind, there were a lot of big hits and we had to battle through it,” Holtet said. “So did they.”

The Saints thought they’d gone ahead by two in the final minutes of play, but officials waved off the goal after determining the glove-side post behind Wigant was off its mooring. Lewiston pressured hard after that, but couldn’t solve Carrier.

One of the bigger blows to the Saints actually came late, as defender Cam Hainey, already off the ice after showing signs of a shoulder injury, jumped into the boards by the Lewiston fans. Emerging from the pile, he skated to the locker room and came back out for the awards wearing a sling.

“He’s day-to-day, upper body,” Ouellette said.

Both goalies flexed their muscles early.

Lewiston enjoyed an early power play and managed a pair of shots with the extra skater, but Carrier turned both aside. Carrier was also equal to a pair of tough shots after a turnover sent Stefan Vallee in alone. carrier kicked that offering aside and also the rebound chance from David Cusson.

At the other end, Wigant was just as solid, turning back a Cody Rodrigue shot, a tip attempt from Brad Berube and then forcing a Troy Haefele shot high and wide among his eight saves.

Defensively, the Saints shined for the second consecutive game. They’ve allowed three goals in three playoff games, and one total against teams ranked first and second in Eastern A.

“The biggest change in St. Dom’s, in my opinion, is their defensive play,” Belleau said. “They’ve always got explosive forwards, but this year, those kids and that coaching staff, that’s the best defensive team I’ve seen them have in four years.”

“That defensive system is paying off with a lot of blocked shots, as well,” Ouellette said. “Our defense in front is playing well, we’re not giving too many second chances.”

The Saints will skate for the Class A state championship Saturday at 6 p.m. against Thornton Academy at the Colisee.