QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Ranked by most publications as the QMJHL’s best prospect Sean Couturier showed his true colors scoring three of Drummondville four goals against Quebec in front of 13,342 fans in le Colisee Pepsi.
Photo by Serge Poulin
Quebec began the game playing solid hockey dominating 12- 3 in shots on goal with four great scoring opportunities, two coming from the stick of Alexandre Grenier. Drummondville goaltender Guillaume Nadeau kept his team in the game with a solid performance making several key saves in the opening period.
Drummondville head coach Mario Duhamel was the first to praise the netminder’s performance after the game.
“We knew Quebec would come out playing strong hockey our goal was to come out of first period with the score tie, we can’t control that all the time. Nadeau (Drummondville starting goaltender) kept us in the game with several key saves,” Duhamel said. “After that we seem to find our legs back. It even took the Quebec goal because they still continued to get the best against us.”
One of the turning points seemed to be the fight between Drummondville captain Marc-Olivier Vachon and Frederick Roy.
“To see our captain Vachon who wasn’t a fighter drops his glove against Frederick Roy gives us some boost. When your captain do things like that it shows lots of character. The momentum seems to change side after the fight,” Duhamel added after the game.
Quebec opened the scoring when John Audy-Marchessault found Tomas Filippi near Drummondville goalie crease deflecting the puck low on Nadeau stick side at 6:21 of the second period.
The Remparts seem in control of the game until 12:09 of the same second period when Marchessault lost the puck along the board giving a three-on-one against Quebec goaltender who wasn’t able to stop Sean Couturier who tied the game one all.
Photo by Serge Poulin
While Quebec began the game on a strong note, Drummondville came back in the third period with two goals, the second and third one by Couturier in 1:18. Couturier beat Quebec netminder forcing Domingue to make the first move to beat him with a backhanded shot 36 seconds into the third period.
The back breaking goal came less than a minute later with the team being in shorthanded situation. A turnover by Quebec netminder Domingue who tried to make a pass to one of his teammates turned against him. Couturier went left and when Remparts netminder tried to make his pass on his right the puck went right on Couturier’s stick who just had to put the puck in an empty net at 1:18.
The first star of the game came to meet the press with big smile on his face. “We went through the storm in first period and we played much better as the game went on,” Couturier said.
Talking about his third goal of the game Couturier admited that he didn’t expect the pass from Domingue, “No I didn’t expect the pass; I just anticipated the move and the puck came right on my stick.”
With three goals Couturier becomes the second leading QMJHL scorer but he didn’t really think about that.
“No I didn’t really think about that (becoming the best scorer in the league) I think more about the team success we will see what will happen at the end of the year.”
Drummondville’s fourth goal came from the stick Voltigeurs defenseman Andrew Randazzo who just shot the puck in an empty net with 3:31 remaining in the game.
Photo by Serge Poulin
On the other side, veteran Joel Champagne agreed about Quebec playing a good first period.
“We had a good start we had 12 shots on goal against only three after one, but we missed some intensity and energy.”
Champagne also said that the two goals scored by Drummondville in 1:18 to begin the third period played key role in his team’s loss, “Yes but I don’t think it was an excuse. We made other come back in the past (beginning of the season) but we didn’t play sixty minutes tonight.”
For Quebec head coach Patrick Roy, he wasn’t sure that the two goals were the main reason for his team loss on Tuesday night.
“I’m not sure,” Roy said. “In the first period we came out strong, but we weren’t able to score, I considered it a turning point. We had several good scoring opportunities. If we could have scored two or three goals in the first period it could have been different. On the other end, I have to admit we have had a great performance from one of the best QMJHL prospect who will be draft in first round.
Quebec will go back on the road going to Gatineau facing the Olympiques in Robert Guertin Arena on Thursday night. On Friday night the team will visit Montreal facing the Juniors.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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