WINSLOW — Curtis Martin could only keep the John Bapst hockey team off the scoreboard for so long.

The Crusaders tested the Lawrence/Skowhegan goalie early and often Wednesday night at Sukee Arena before finally breaking through with a pair of goals in the final 3:10 of the second period on their way to a 4-1 victory. Martin finished the game with 30 saves for the Bandits.

“We lost some really good players but we have some work to do,” Martin said. “There’s a lot of room for improvement from our players. We’ll get there.”

John Bapst had opportunities of offense throughout the night but really started to push the issue midway through the second period.

After Cameron Dyer rung the left post with 7:15 to play in the period, Martin made a nice blocker save moments later on the rebound. The save was the first of three in a 45 second span.

Lawrence/Skowhegan countered a little more than two minutes later when Sam Haver flicked a shot on goal that John Bapst goalie Tom Carmack could not corral, but Alex Paul’s attempt to clean up the rebound was turned away.

The Crusaders then broke the scoreless tie with 3:10 to go in the second when Nate Reese skated in alone along the left side and sniped the top, left corner of the goal with Dyer getting credited with the assist.

A turnover deep in the Bandits’ defensive zone led to John Bapst’s next goal, a shorthanded score with 57.7 seconds to play in the period.

“There’s only so much you can do. Cut down on the angles you can, take the shots that you can and it will come together,” Martin said. “Our chemistry needs to get a lot better. We need to start talking, we need to start getting along and we need to become friends before we can become teammates.”

A bench minor with 17.6 seconds to play gave the Bandits a five-on-three opportunity, of which they nearly took advantage of had it not been for a fine defensive save from Drew Gardner with 10 seconds remaining in the period.

Reese and Gardner tacked on two more goals to make it 4-0 before the Bandits finally got on the scoreboard when Dawson Gagne scored off an assist from Brady Martin.

“We knew they were a good team coming in and they outworked us,” Bandits head coach Ted Fabian said. “The chemistry just isn’t there yet. We’ve got to get shots on net, we’ve got to get dirty goals and I think we’re trying to be a little bit too pretty. It’s going to come down to hard work and we’re going to have to grind for it.”

The Bandits knew coming into this season retooling the offense would be necessary — particularly on the power play. On Wednesday night, Lawrence/Skowhegan — which graduated its first line from a season ago — was 0 for 5 on special teams. Depth is also a concern for the Bandits, who skated only two lines against the Crusaders.

“I wouldn’t say we had a lot of opportunities on the power play, we had a lot of power plays,” Fabian said. “There’s room for improvement. We know we’ve got to work hard and get better.”

Evan Crawley — 621-5640

ecrawley@maientoday.com

Twitter: @Evan_Crawley