The Blue Devils (2-0) made modest gains early in the contest, firing off a lot of shots, but only a few on-target. Only one of those shots made it in in the first period, and it took a diving attempt by Jeromey Rancourt to get past Red Eddies goalie Devin Dumont, who was out of position after making an initial stop.

That goal, the only successful shot out of 17 for the Blue Devils in the opening period, provided the blueprint for how to keep scoring more.

“Just take shots from the point and go for the rebound,” Lewiston senior Brendon Croteau said of the game plan. “Going to work down low.”

Cody Doyon made it 2-0 four minutes into the second period, then Croteau added a third Blue Devils goal with four minutes left before the second intermission.

“The second period, we really focused on trying to get more pucks to net, keep them low and having a good net presence, and I think that made a difference,” Lewiston head coach Jamie Belleau said.

The Red Eddies (2-1) were out-shot 35-7 across the first two periods, giving them far fewer chances in what was a hotly contested rivalry game.

“We had some chances that we could have scored,” EL head coach Craig Latuscha said. “It may not have been as many as they had. But you got to take advantage of the chances that we’re given. If we score a goal or two … it could have changed the game big time.”

A Red Eddie goal in the third period could have brought the score within two goals, and created some doubt in the Blue Devils. Instead, Joe Bisson made it 4-0 just over two minutes in.

Things began to fall apart even more for EL, as Tyler Couture was sent off for a major penalty and misconduct just over six minutes in. Lewiston scored three goals on the five-minute power play (Ryan Bossie, Kyle Morin, Rancourt) and the rout was on.

“It’s about handling adversity and tonight, specifically my team, didn’t handle adversity very well,” Latuscha said.

“We expected the physical play, and we really wanted to keep our composure,” Belleau said. “We think if we use our legs, use our skill, we’ll have more success. And I think that made a big difference.”

The Blue Devils weren’t immune to the emotions, as they found themselves on the penalty kill, but were able to keep the net clean during all of them. Lewiston scored on two of its six power plays, with the major man-advantage producing the trio of goals.

Rancourt and Croteau each scored two goals, and Dustin Larochelle and Brady Cusson added goals in the final three minutes.

Dumont stopped 35 of 40 shots before being pulled. Ben Feldman took over in net after that and made four saves.

“Devin played pretty well,” Latuscha said. “He got tired at the end, then he let in a couple goals that I thought he could have had. You can only stop so many.”

The runaway victory was the second in as many game to start the season for Lewiston, which routed Portland/Deering it its season opener. But according to Croteau, beating Edward Little “…means a lot more. It’s a big rival game.”

Sam Zashut stopped all 10 faces he faced.

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