LEWISTON, Maine -- Stephen MacAuley scored with 2:52 to play in regulation and the Saint John Sea Dogs finished a four-game sweep of the Lewiston Maineiacs with a 6-5 win in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Wednesday.
MacAuley scored the series winner in Game 4 of the semifinal series of when he crashed the net and tucked a rebound past Lewiston goalie Andrey Makarov.
Saint John earned a second consecutive berth in the President's Cup final. The Sea Dogs will face the winner of the series between Quebec and Gatineau, which the Remparts lead 3-1.
Eric Gelinas, Zack Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, Scott Oke and Nathan Beaulieu also scored for the Sea Dogs, who fell behind by three goals in the first period, rallied to tie the game in the second and then outscored the Maineiacs by a goal in the third to secure the victory.
In the third, Gelinas, who played in Lewiston for two and a half seasons, gave the Sea Dogs their first lead of the game 4:35 in on a blast from the top of the right circle on the power play.
That was short-lived, as Pierre-Olivier Morin got a stick on a long, slow shot from Sam Carrier from the right point and tipped the puck through Jacob DeSerres' pads and into the net.
Alex Zafiris, Stefan Fournier, Cameron Critchlow and Olivier Dame-Malka also scored for Lewiston, the No. 8 seed in this year's playoffs which reached the semifinal round after upsetting No. 2 Montreal in six games in the second round.
DeSerres finished the game with 25 saves on 28 shots. DeSerres replaced Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault in the first period after Lewiston scored on its first two shots of the game.
Makarov stopped 31 of 37 in his first career playoff start in the loss.
In his first bobble of the series, Corbeil-Theriault misplayed a hard dump-in from Dame-Malka just past the one-minute mark of the opening frame. The puck kicked off the heel of his stick and into the right circle. Critchlow jumped on the loose puck and hammered it into the empty net for a 1-0 Lewiston advantage.
Corbeil-Theriault's night ended 1:22 later when Lewiston again caught the keeper out of position. This time, Sam Carrier's shot from the point deflected to Zafiris, who scored his third of the playoffs to give the Maineiacs a 2-0 lead on two shots.
Gallant pulled Corbeil-Theriault in favour of DeSerres.
After a 12-minute delay for a broken pane of glass, Dame-Malka slipped a wrist shot through traffic on a feed across the zone from Critchlow and beat DeSerres through his pads for the Maineiacs' third goal on as many shots.
Saint John got one back right on a faceoff to Makarov's right when Phillips tipped the puck to himself and slipped the puck five-hole.
Saint John held its foot to the gas the rest of the first period, forcing Makarov to make several big saves on a host of different Sea Dogs skaters.
Makarov made a dazzling glove save on Phillips from five feet out, snaring the shot with his catching glove, to momentarily keep Lewiston's lead intact.
But Saint John beat the Russian rookie 1:28 into the second on the Sea Dogs' first power play chance of the game as Beaulieu blasted a shot that beat Makarov high to his glove side.
The Maineiacs replied with another at 3:44 to go back in front by a pair, Oke again pulled Saint John within a goal at 5:22 on a scramble to the left of Makarov, and the Sea Dogs completed their comeback at 13:29 of the second as Gabriel Bourret hit Huberdeau in stride and sent the talented winger in alone. Huberdeau deked to the forehand and beat Makarov low to his stick side.
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Remparts 2, Olympiques 1
GATINEAU, Que. -- Joel Champagne scored both of Quebec's goals Wednesday night, including the third-period winner, and the Remparts beat the Gatineau Olympiques 2-1 in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Remparts head back home with a 3-1 series advantage following two straight victories at Gatineau's Robert Guertin Arena. Game 5 will be played Friday in Quebec City.
Champagne found himself loose in the slot and he fired a shot past Maxime Clermont for the winner and his 10th goal of the playoffs. Champagne had tied the game on a power play in the second period to erase Jean-Gabriel Pageau opening goal for Gatineau.
With another victory, the Remparts will face Saint John in the final after the Sea Dogs completed their sweep of the Lewiston Maineiacs Wednesday night.
Louis Domingue made 29 saves to earn the victory in goal for Quebec.
Clermont stopped 27 shots for the Olympiques.
The previous three games in the series had all been decided by a single goal and it appeared Wednesday's was headed for a similarly close outcome after a goal less first period.
It was more of the same in the second, where neither team was having much success creating scoring chances, and when they did they had trouble hitting the net.
Pageau finally made the breakthrough while Gatieau was short-handed at the 12:36 mark. He broke down the wing before beating Domingue high to the short side.
It didn't take Quebec long to reply, though, as Champagne tied it on the same power play. Champagne received a kind bounce off an Olympiques player, redirecting past Clermont at 14:07.
It remained tied heading to the third where Gatineau had most of the pressure in the Remparts' end.
But Alexandre Grenier, who scored the game-winner on Tuesday, found Champagne wide open in the slot in front of Clermont and he made no mistake.
The Remparts, in the semifinals for the second time in three years, are looking to advance to the league final for the first time since the 2005-06 season, which was coach and general manager Patrick Roy's first season in charge.
The Olympiques, meanwhile, last made the final in 2008 when they beat the Remparts in the second round en route to winning the President's Cup.
Quebec had defenceman Guillaume Rousseau back in the lineup after he served a one-game suspension for an illegal hit to the head in the series opener.
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