QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Totally dominated by Quebec, the Prince Edward Island Rocket can thank their goaltender Evan Mosher if the Remparts didn’t win by a wider margin. The shots on goal reflected the home team’s domination after two periods, 36-8, ending 49-10 after the game.
“You can’t play against the best team in the league with four defensemen. We have been beaten by the best team in the league by far,” PEI head coach Eric Lavigne said after the game.
Losing the night before against Shawinigan by the score of 8-1 the visitors came out of the first period with the game tied at 1.
Ryan Bourque opened the scoring for Quebec on a power play. The left winger took a rebound shot from Frederick Roy and beat Rocket goaltender Adam Mosher 3:01 into first period. Tomas Filippi missed another great scoring opportunity when his shot missed the net just four minutes after his team scored the first goal in the game.
Shots on goal with 9:27 to play in the opening period already indicated the kind of game Quebec played; the Remparts already led 14-1. PEI tied the score less than nine minutes later when left alone in the red zone Andrej Nestrasil beat Quebec netminder with a wrist shot at 12:09.
The Rocket’s head coach was the first to admit that if his team didn’t trail by more than one goal after forty minutes it’s because of our goaltender.
“Our goaltender kept us in the game. We needed to count on our breakaway to score goals but we weren’t able too. We have been totally dominated,” Lavigne said beside his locker room after the game.
Both teams traded scoring chances to begin the second period. Axel Rioux missed a golden opportunity to add to Quebec lead seeing Prince Edward Island goaltender Mosher making another key saves to keep his team in the game. On the other side, Samuel Mormeau forced Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue to make a key save, stopping the left winger on a breakaway.
Quebec was unable to score on a two-man advantage when Referee Dominic Tessier and Pascal St-Jacques signaled two consecutives penalties, one to Louick Marcotte for unsportsmanlike conduct, and another to Jean-Laurence Beauchemin for delay of game at 8:34.
But Quebec came back later, scoring on another power play this time a five-on-four advantage.
Defenseman Vincent Barnard scored the only goal in second period when he beat PEI goaltender with a one-timer giving no chance to Mosher at 10:34.
Remparts came back in third adding two goals. Roy scored his third of the season 1:16 into the period scoring what became the insurance goal. Rookie Axel Rioux who missed an excellent scoring opportunity in the beginning of second period completed the scoring for the home team who wore their Pink jersey in support of the fight against breast cancer.
Quebec defenseman Martin Lefebvre played much better game against the Prince Edward Island ending with three assists.
“For me it was important not to play two bad games in a row, I’m too proud to get too bad games so I’m very happy about the way things turned out,” The young defenseman said after not played very well the night before.
“Everyone came back with strong effort tonight and we played much better game. I always like to contribute offensively I’m able to see the opportunity when they come, so I support the offense when I get the chance. It went well tonight.”
The team was anxious to get back on the ice following their first regulation time loss the night before.
“Sure we were anxious, we did lots of video and has had discussions about the way we have to rebound and our performance tonight was totally different from what we saw last night,” said Quebec head coach Patrick Roy in his post game conference.
“We always are anxious after a loss, we would like to see the impact the loss will have on our next performance. Tonight, I think we showed lots of character, 21- 4 in shots on goal after the first period if it wasn’t for Mosher you didn’t have a game. He (Mosher) kept his team in the game.”
The team will end its busy weekend facing the Moncton Wildcats this afternoon.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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