QUEBEC CITY P.Q. — In Game 3 of the QMJHL championship series, the Drummondville Voltigeurs defeated the Shawinigan Cataractes 5-4 to take a 2-1 series lead. In a game where the most opportunistic team won the offensive battles, four different players scored two goals each: Danny Masse and Yannick Riendeau for Drummondville, Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll and Matthew Pistilli for Shawinigan. Unfortunately for Shawinigan, their effort on home ice just wasn’t enough. The good news for Eric Veilleux’s team is that they be back on home ice tomorrow night for Game 4 of the series. Game 3 of the QMJHL finals transferred to Bionest Center in Shawinigan and both teams wanted to set the tempo in the game by playing aggressively trading checks in the initial period. Shawinigan missed a great opportunity during a four-on-three power play by putting pressure on Drummondville goaltender Marco Cousineau who made some great saves to keep the score at 0-0. The Voltigeurs lost an important player in first half of the period when Shawinigan defenseman Adam Leblanc-Bourque made shoulder-toshoulder contact with Christopher DiDominico, who twisted his leg in rut in the ice. DiDominico left the ice on a stretcher and was sent to the hospital for further examination. Results came back later as a broken thighbone and will be out for the rest of the series. Following the incident, Drummondville opened the scoring at even strength when Ryan McKiernan beat Cataractes goaltender Timo Pielmeier glove side at 7:04. Than Shawinigan tied the score a little more than three minutes later on a power play opportunity when Marc-Antoine Desnoyers was sent to the penalty box at 8:37. Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll scored the first of his two goals beating Cousineau at 10:28. With 43 seconds left in the first period, the Voltigeurs regained the lead on Danny Masse unassisted goal, his 23rd goal of the playoffs. A penalty to Voltigeurs defenseman Dmitry Kulikov lead to Shawinigan’s tying goal scored by Matthew Pistilli with 9:30 gone in second period. Consecutive penalties to Shawinigan defenseman Charles-Olivier Rousell (10:02) and center Maxime Macenauer (10:56) gave to Drummondville five-on-three power play. Riendeau didn’t lose his chance at giving his team back the lead when he grabbed a lose puck near the Cataractes netminder and beat him for Drummondville’s third goal of the game at 11:38. Drummondville took a two goal lead for the first time in the game with 1:29 remaining in the second period when Masse scored his second of the night, 13th of the playoffs at 18:31. After forty minutes of play, the Voltigeurs led 4-2 against the Cataractes. Matthew Pistilli scored his second of the night to cut Drummondville’s lead to one goal with his 12th goal of the playoffs at 3:58. After the goal, Shawinigan played much better by pressuring Drummondville in their defensive zone. Riendeau scored his second of the night to help Drummondville regain a two goal lead for the second time in the game at 17:32. The last goal in the game came from the stick of Lalonde-McNicoll, also his second of the night, at 18:51, but it was too late too late for the Cataractes. One of the first questions asked to Drummondville coach Guy Boucher after the game was about the lost of Chistopher DiDominico. “He has a thighbone broken in his leg. The player was down and instead of crying of pain, he said to his teammates, “I want this game, I want this game”. That’s how he is.” When questioned if he saw what really happened in the sequence, Boucher answered, “I saw it like I saw, well, I will keep my mouth shut. There were three like that that weren’t called. When you are in playoffs, that’s the kind of thing that happens,” said the Drummondville coach in reference to the the power plays on the other team in comparison to his own team. “It’s clear that our players have character. We regrouped our players after the incident. It wasn’t a feeling and emotion we would like to live for long. Those of you who saw the player coming off the ice, he was in severe pain, so we had to do something. Like we did all year, we answered the challenge and worked very hard, because tonight, it was just the hard work that gave us this game.” Boucher said. When talking about Masse and Riendeau’s performance, Voltigeurs head coach said the following “These two players stepped on our bench tonight and gave us a lot.” When questioned about his teams confidence, Boucher seems to be a bit irritated. “I will answer to all of you (reporters) once and for all; it was you guys that didn’t have confidence in our team. We lost one, one in the series, and suddenly nobody seems to have confidence in us. We lost one game in our last 20. It was a series against an excellent team on the other side. I already told you the series will end in seven, so yes, at one time it will be 1-1, 2-2. We didn’t lose our confidence, we know who we are and what we can do.” Game 4 will be Wednesday night. Same place, same time. Shots on goals: Drummondville 29, Shawinigan 31 Power plays: Drummondville 1-5, Shawinigan 3-8 Three Stars of the game: 1-Yannick Riendeau (Drum.) 2- Danny Masse (Drum.) 3-Matthew Pistilli (Sha.) Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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