LEWISTON — With a pair of the Lewiston Maineiacs’ best defensemen riding the pine on three-game suspensions, Ian Saab knew he had to better his game.

“I tried to get myself ready a lot more than usual,” Saab said. “This was my chance to step up and get more ice time.”

Step up, he did.

A rare goal from Saab — just his second of the season — put the Maineiacs in front midway through the second period, Michael Chaput put an exclamation point on the scoring with a superb deke to his backhand later in the third and Andrey Makarov was solid, making 37 saves on 39 shots as Lewiston downed Shawinigan 4-2 for a third consecutive win Tuesday in front of 1,805 at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

“I thought our defensemen stepped up tonight and played pretty well,” Maineiacs’ coach J.F. Houle said. “It was a good win for us … I thought Saab played well tonight, I thought Zach (Shannon) played well, I thought (Jonathan) Parisien worked hard and I thought Makarov made some big saves. It was a good team win.”

After a 20-second cycle deep in the Shawinigan zone, Pierre-Olivier Morin kicked the puck out to Saab at the right point, who saw the rest of the forward line crash the net. He lofted a wrist shot toward the cage that eluded everybody and found the mesh behind Shawinigan keeper Gabriel Girard.

“After the first one that I’d missed, I saw it all the way through, it just went in,” Saab said. “I think the whole team was in front of me. I couldn’t see anything at first.”

Chaput’s third-period goal epitomized the Maineiacs’ effort. With the Cataractes on a power play, Chaput and Brodeur double-teamed the right defenseman and poked the puck through center. Chaput crashed through the center zone with both Shawinigan defenders draped across his back, poked the puck to himself as he crossed the Cats’ blue line and then managed a backhand deke move to finish the rush off.

“That was a beauty,” Houle said. “I was very impressed at how he kept his feet moving even though two guys were hooking him and he made a nice move at the end. After that goal, I felt pretty good.”

The win is Lewiston’s ninth in its past 11 games and keeps the Maineiacs within striking distance of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s fourth overall position as teams begin to eye the playoffs. Lewiston sits in fifth, one point behind Drummondville, but the Voltigeurs now have a game in hand on the Maineiacs.

“As we get closer to the playoffs, you can tell there’s a shift in intensity. There’s a lot more pushing after the whistle,” Houle said. “Teams compete a little harder, and it’s important to get into a good spot for the playoffs.”

The Maineiacs took advantage of a strong drive to the net early in the first to net the contest’s initial goal.

Antoine Houde-Caron sent the puck back to the point, where Zach Shannon gathered it quickly and fired it back toward the cage. Houde-Caron and Cole Hawes converged on the crease, and Hawes put a stick on the shot to deflect it up and over Girard for a 1-0 Lewiston advantage.

Kirill Kabanov, back from an illness, cashed in less than three minutes later to give the Maineiacs the strong start they had been looking for. With the team enjoying a power play, Kabanov found the puck on the ice between Girard’s pads and poked it into the net after Chaput’s wrister from in tight had stunned the goalie.

Shawinigan wasted little time recouping its losses. Ryan Kavanagh squeezed a shot Makarov’s armpit at 9:23 to pull the Cats within a goal, and Dave Labrecque, who assisted on Kavanagh’s tally, earned his own at 10:18 after weaving through traffic in the low slot and beating a down-and-out Makarov, tying the game at a pair apiece.

“After they asked for a review on our second goal, I thought that kind of broke the momentum,” Houle said. “It was like a timeout, and they came in a started hitting. You could tell they gained the momentum and they scored their two goals.”

“We played good in the second period, that’s about the only period we played the way we normally play,” Shawinigan coach Eric Veilleux said. “Our D were very average moving the puck, getting the puck quick up to our forwards. I thought it was one of our worst games I’ve seen in a long time.”

The loss is the Cataractes’ first in eight games, a run that helped them climb into the league’s top eight.

The Maineiacs return to the ice Saturday for a home matchup against Cape Breton at 7 p.m.