QUEBEC CITY P.Q. —With two goals in first thirty-five second to begin the third period the team coach by Ron Choules thought they had good chance to win their first game in the series. Even if the Remparts scored a shorthanded goal to reduce Titan lead, an empty net goal scored with fifty-three seconds remaining in the game by Eric Faille assured first Titan victory in the series.
Olivier Dane-Malka with a shot from the blue line beat Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue unable to keep the puck in his glove. Malka’s unassisted goal came at 3:24. Another former Remparts player came to play Devils advocates against his former teammates when his shot beat Quebec netminder under his left pad for Titan third goals (game winning goal) at 3:59.
After giving three goals on twenty-two shots Quebec head coach Patrick Roy decided to make a change sending Antoine Tardif for whom it was his first action in the series.
Leading 3-1 with less than 1:47 remaining in the game, with Quebec being in shorthanded situation the Russian native Dmitry Kugryshev beat Francois Lacerte for Remparts second goal in the game. But with fifty-three seconds remaining in the game veteran forward Eric Faille came to seal Remparts fate with an empty net goal at 19:47.
The Quebec Remparts came in the K.C. Irving regional Center leading their series 2-0. Following the first two games, the Remparts need to play better defensively giving up too many good scoring chances to their opponent in first period.
For the Acadie-Bathurst, back in front of their fans, game number three was very important one, the team coach by Ron Choules can’t be 0-3 if they want to have some chance in that series. The line of Bryce Nilson, David Gilbert and Jonathan Lessard was the most dangerous line in first two games, and got first two great scoring chances in first four Bathurst shot in the opening period. Making key saves on Bathurst two of the first four shots from left winger Gilbert and Lessard Louis Domingue seem very sharp in front of his net.
Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Maxime Gravel got first two great scoring chances for the visitor forcing Bathurst starting goaltender Lacerte for a second game to makes two important saves keeping the score 0-0. Quebec loses important soldier when Danick Paquette left the game after first period with an upper body injury.
Bathurst came out in second period putting lots of pressure on their opponent forcing Quebec to make some mistakes in their defensive zone. Both teams were unable to open the score with a man advantage. Ryan Bourque and Vallerand were the most dangerous forwards on Quebec side on second Jeremie Blain second penalties in the period.
After making first save on Bathurst defenseman Daniel Tannel’s shot, unable to control the rebound, Domingue saw left winger Taylor Lambke pushed the puck behind the goal line for first Bathurst goal in the game at 8:39.
Being shutout in their first three power plays attempt, Quebec finally found a way to beat Titan goaltender Lacerte with a man advantage. Dominic Savoie with his first goal in the series, his shot, hit top corner at 15:09 tying the score 1-1.
Malka with a shot from the blue line gave the lead to Bathurst at 3:24. Sebastien Trudeau gave a 3-1 lead to the home team only 0:35 seconds later when his shot went under Domingue’s left pads. Seeing his goaltender being beaten for third times on twenty-two shots Quebec head coach made the change sending Antoine Tardif in the game.
Next game in this series will be Wednesday night also in Bathurst. Quebec still led the series 2-1 but it will be interesting to see how both teams will react with second games in less than twenty-four hours.
Other series in the QMJHL
Saint John vs. Prince Edward Island Rocket : The Sea Dogs led the series 2-1 with a 3-0 shutout victory over the Rocket in Charllletown Civic Center.
Saint John broke the ice with Jonathan Huberdeau goal in the opening period at 14:33. The Sea Dogs dominated in shots on goal department 12-5. Saint John came back in second with two other goals on six shots against Evan Mosher. Danick Gauthier (2:21) and Mike Hoffman with 0:07 seconds remaining in the second period complete the scoring for Sea Dogs for the night.
Goaltenders for both teams: Saint John Marco Cousineau 24 shots making 24 saves, PEI Evan Mosher 24 shots making 21 saves. Power Plays: Saint John 0-4, PEI 0-5.
Moncton Wildcats vs. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles: The Wildcats needed overtime to come on top winning 3-2 on goal scored by Denis Savard unassisted at 14:53 of first period of overtime.
Nicholas Deschamps with two goals for Moncton play key offensive role for the Wildcats in the third victories in the series. After a scoreless first period the former Chicoutimi Sagueneens forward broke the ice with Moncton first goal in the game at 19:20. In fact Deschamps not just opened the scoring but came back in third period with his second goals in the game at 6:34 of third period.
Moncton goaltender Nicola Riopel was perfect shutting out Cape Breton after forty minutes making 15 saves. But the Screaming Eagles beat Riopel two times inside 4:02 seconds with goals by Maxime Legault (power play) 13:37 and Victor Hertzberg 17:39 to push both teams to play overtime period.
Savard sealed Cape Breton’s fate with the game winning goal 14:53 in first overtime period.
Shots on goal by Moncton 32 Cape Breton 48. Goaltender Moncton: Riopel Cape Breton: Olivier Roy. Power plays Moncton: 0-4 Cape Breton 1-3. Three stars selections goes to: first Moncton David Savard, second to Cape Breton Victor Hertzberg and the third stars to Moncton goaltender Nicola Riopel.
Next Game will be tonight (Wednesday March 23rd) also in Cape Breton with the Wildcats leading 3-0.
Drummondville Voltigeurs vs. Lewiston MAINEiacs: With Drummondville 5-1 victory over Lewiston the Voltigeurs takes a commanding 3-0 series lead in their series.
Andrew Randazzo (1-1), Gabriel Dumont (1-1) and Christopher DiDominico (0-2) with two points each led Drummonville offense. Lewiston goaltender Adrien Lemay has been simply sensational making 19 save keeping his team in the game in the opening period. The MAINEiacs ended first twenty minutes with only five shots on Jake Allen.
The Voltigeurs scored two goals on six shots taking a 2-1 lead after two period. After seeing the Voltigeurs opened the scoring 5:21 into the period on Denis Levesque first of the series, the MAINEiacs tied the score1-1 beating only once on 16 shots. After forty minutes shots on goal were 25- 21 in favor of Voltigeurs.
Andrew Brunelle, Randazzo and Dumont completed the scoring for the winning team.
Goaltenders: Drummondville Allen (Jake) 28 shots, 27 saves, Lewiston Lemay (Adrien) 38 shots 33 saves. Power plays Drummondville 0-4, Lewiston 0-6. Three stars of the game went all three to Drummonville players: first one Gabriel Dumont, second stars to Andrew Randazzo and the third one to Christopher DiDominico.
Next game in this series will also be tonight (Wednesday March 23rd) in Lewiston with a chance for Drummondville to rap up the series with another victory.
Victoriaville Tigres vs. Shawinigan Cataractes : With Shawinigan 4-3 win over Victoriaville the Ctataractes led the series 2-1.
Dave Labrecque (1-1), Antoine-Houde-Caron (1-1) and Dominik Schlumpf were the offensive leaders for Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux.
Both teams played very offensive first period ending with 14 shots on goal by each teams. The only one being successful in his attempt to beat opponent goaltender is Joel Champagne with 11:37 gone in the opening period.
The Tigres add second goal in second period when Trevor McIsaac beat Shawinigan goaltender Gabriel Girard at 6:19. The Cataractes cut Voltigeurs lead in half only twenty-six seconds later when Houde-Caron scored his first of the series. Michael Bournival made the score 2-2 at 10:31. But Victoriaville regained a one goal lead 1:02 seconds later when Chris Doyle scored his third goal in the series.
Dave Labrecque tied the score 3-3 with 13:25 gone in third period and with only four second remaining in the game Dominik Schlumpf scored fourth Shawinigan goals leading his team to second victories in their series.
Goaltenders: Victoriaville Kevin Poulin 43 shots 39 saves, Shawinigan Gabriel Girard 29 shots 26 saves.
Three stars selection: First Shawinigan forward Dominik Schlumpf, the second stars to Victoriaville goaltender Kevin Poulin and third stars Shawinigan Antoine Houde-Caron.
Power plays: Victoriaville 0-1, Shawinigan 0-2.
Next game in this series will also be tonight (Wednesday) also in Shawinigan.
Rimouski Oceanic vs. Chicoutimi Sagueneens: Playing in front of their fans revived the team coach by Richard Martel winning 6-2 over Rimouski.
Sagueneens head coach Martel renewed his confidence to his young (16 years old) netminder Robin Gusse sending him for third games after losing first two in Rimouski.
Defenseman Dominic Jalbert (0-3), center Alexis Piette (0-3), Emrik Guillemette (2-0), Antoine Roussel (1-1), Eric Gelinas (1-1) and Mathieu Populus (0-2) led Chicoutimi offensive in their victory over the Oceanic.
Nothing really announced what happened for Rimouski in second period after seeing the Oceanic to open the score with Jakub Culek at 12:35 in the opening period. Gusse made nine saves on ten Rimouski shots.
Chicoutimi offense exploded in second period with five goals on thirteen shots on Rimouski goaltender Matthew Dupod. Two of these five goals were scored with a man advantage. Both goals were scored by Guillemette (third and fifth in the game). Gelinas, Alexandre Lavoie and Roussel got Chicoutimi other goals in second period.
Nicolas Therrien scored what became the last Sagueneens’s goals in the game, the third one on six attempts with a man advantage.
Alexandre Durrette at 19:35 of the third period scored last Rimouski goal in the game.
Goaltenders: Rimouski: Matthew Dupod 26 shots 20 saves, Chicoutimi: Robin Gusse 21 shots 19 saves.
Power plays: Rimouski 0-5, Chicoutimi 3-6.
Three stars selections: all went to Chicoutimi players, first to Alexis Piette, second to Eric Gelinas and the third one to Emrk Guillemette.
Next Game will also be on Wednesday night March 23rd with Rimouski still leading 2-1.
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies vs. Val-d’Or Foreurs: The fans coming in Val-d’Or on Tuesday night saw a big goaltending battle finally won by Nicholas Champion over Raffaele D’Oso. The Huskies win 1-0 over the Foreurs.
The only goal in the game came in second period and it came from the stick of Antoine Quevillion at 4:02. Rest of the game was like a chess game.
Goaltenders: Rouyn-Noranda Nicholas Champion 16 shots making 16 saves for the shutout, Val-d’Or Raffaele D’Orso 36 shots making 35 saves.
Power plays Rouyn-Noranda 0-1 Val-d’Or 0-5.
Three stars of the game: first one went to Val-d’Or goaltender Raffaele D’Orso, the second to Rouyn-Noranda defenseman Nicolas Deslauriers and third one to Rouyn-Noranda defenseman Gabriel O’Connor.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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