Gatineau force game six with win over Quebec

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — In a do-or-die game, Gatineau veterans stepped-up and led the Olympiques to a 5-3 win over the Quebec Remparts. Jean-Gabriel Pageau with a hat trick and Philip Michael Devos (1g-1a) took charge of the offense forcing game six at home.
 

Gatineau opened the scoring on their first power play of the game during a penalty to Quebec left winger Ryan Bourque. Unable to control the rebound, after seeing Devos taking the first shot, Christian Ouellet didn’t miss his chance, and put the puck behind Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue at 12:12 of the opening period.
 
Ending the game with two of their three goals in the game scored with a man advantage, Quebec tied the game on their first power play opportunity. With Olympiques forward Philippe Halley in the box for boarding Vincent Barnard beat Maxime Clermont with a one-timer from the blueline at 2:16.
 
But before both teams heard the siren announcing the end of first period, Gatineau regained the lead with first of three goals for the night by Jean-Gabriel Pageau who saw Remparts rookie Axel Rioux lose the puck. Pageau shot had been blocked by Quebec netminder but in trying to control the rebound Domingue put the puck in with his stick at 15:13.
 
Tomas Filippi pleased the 13,624 fans in le Colisee Pepsi scoring Quebec’s second goal being four-on-four with a screen shot at 7:45 just after seeing his goaltender make two key saves on Gatineau forward Cody Linteau.
 
But like the first period, Pageau came back with his second of the night beating Domingue with a shot from right faceoff circle low on the glove side at 17:43. Besides leading by one after forty minutes, Gatineau also got the best in shots on goal department 18-10.
 
Puck management was the key word in Gatineau head coach Benoit Groulx mouth after the game.
 
“We play with more disciplined than in our last two games, our puck management has been much better and our goaltender was very solid in key moments, especially the one he made in third period. On the other hand their goalkeeper didn’t play his best hockey. The fact we were able to put four pucks behind him proved it. For me, that’s the two factors explaining our victory.”
 
Gatineau played very well defensively limiting Quebec to only 10 shots on goals after forty minutes but found themselves on losing end in their last three games.
 
“When you lose your last three games in last five minutes of three periods, I don’t if afraid was the right words but it seem to you that the times didn’t run out fast. But we did it right, lucky bounces were on our side for once. Our key guys played very well tonight.”
 
Both teams stepped on the ice with Gatineau leading by one until the 16:49when Pageau completed his hat trick with a wrist shot beating Quebec netminder on his glove side.
 
Philippe-Michael Devos sealed Quebec coffin for the night with an empty net goal at 16:49 of third period forcing Quebec to return to Robert Guertin arena for game six Sunday night.
Quebec scored their third and last goal of the game with a man advantage. Olivier Hinse scored his fourth of the playoff in a losing cause.
 
For Quebec head coach Patrick Roy he resumed the game by saying, “We didn’t come out like we should. We should come out in first like we did in third period. Whether we look for someone to blame its team loss and we didn’t play the type of hockey we usually do.”
 
Both teams will face each other in game six, in Robert Guertin arena on Sunday night.
 
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com