Unable to tame the Tigres, Quebec lose 6-2

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — After their best performance on Friday night against Acadie-Bathurst, Quebec came out flat in front of 12766 fans losing 6-2 against Victoriaville. Four goals scored in second period proved to be too much for the Remparts making the difference in the losing effort.
 
“For sure we aren’t happy about our performance tonight, we didn’t make great decisions,” admitted Quebec head coach Patrick Roy in his post game press conference.
 
“Fortunately we don’t have too many bad performances like this afternoon often in le Colisee Pepsi, we will have to regroup and be ready for our next game against them on Wednesday. They (Victoriaville) played very well, they have speedy forwards but we didn’t play with intensity.”
 
“I found that we came out flat tonight, we didn’t have any jump. I can’t say we played bad over sixty minutes but the second period was really tough to look at, we took bad decisions, we weren’t sharp in our zone.”
 
With the score 1-1 after one period, where both goaltender Antonio Mastropietro (Victoriaville) and Jimmy Appleby (Quebec) were beaten once on eight shots, the visiting team scored four unanswered goals on 12 shots forcing Quebec head coach Patrick Roy to pull his starting netminder Appleby sending Louis Domingue for the rest of the game.
 
Appleby left after allowing four goals on 18 shots in 32:40 of play. Domingue has been beaten once on ten shots. Victoriaville’s sixth goal was scored in an empty net.
 
“I made the goalie change to change the momentum trailing 4-1 you have to do something. Jimmy has nothing to be ashamed of he has nothing to do with what happened. I also would like to see how Louis (Domingue) would react, if he would be more intense. But it doesn’t mean Louis will play next game, we will see,” Roy said explaining why he pulled his starting goaltender after Victoriaville fourth goal.
 
Quebec drew first blood when John Audy- Marchessault beat Tigres goaltender Antonio Mastropietro high on his glove side 5:49 gone in the opening period.
 
Marchessault who ended minus one scoring on his only shot on net in the game seemed to be speechless trying to explain his team effort.
 
“I really have nothing to say,” the center said in almost empty locker room. “It’s really deceiving coming out like we did in front of 10 or 12 thousand fans, we let our fans down, we let our goaltender alone this afternoon, we didn’t came out. It’s something we have to put behind us and think about next game. We haven’t had any excuses we all have to step our game up.”
 
Victoriaville tied the game 8:04 later with first of the night by Charles-Antoine Roy who surprised Appleby near his crease with his seventh of the season.
 
Victoriaville began the second period with a power play thanks to Quebec rookie defenseman Ryan Culkin who had been guilty of goalie interference at 1:55. Fortunately for Quebec they were able to kill that one but wasn’t able to repeat when Matthew Brown was guilty of hooking 9:36 into second period.
 
Putting more pressure in Quebec defensive zone Brandon Hynes took a rebound from Philippe Maillet’s shot inside the blue line beating Quebec netminder for Tigres second goal in the game at 10:35.
 
Victoriaville broke the game open scoring two goals 34 seconds apart. Picking up a puck behind Quebec net Tigres center Carl-Antoine Delisle found his teammates Roy (Charles-Antoine) with a backhanded pass for Roy’s second goal of the game at 12:06.
 
Philippe Maillet’s goal thirty-four seconds later signed the end of the afternoon for Quebec goaltender Appleby who has been relieved by veteran Louis Domingue after allowing Victoriaville fourth goal on 18 shots.
 
But before the second period ended, Victoriaville added insult to injury when Yanni Gourde scored Tigres’ fifth goal, in a shorthanded situation, at 18:09. Victoriaville veteran defenseman and former Quebec Remparts Samuel Groulx was in the box for tripping at 17:45.
 
Quebec defenseman Alex Wall scored Remparts second and last goal 4:57 gone in the third. Maillet (Philippe) scored the last Tigres goal in an empty net at 14:38.
 
“We took advantage of a couple situations in second period,” said Victoriaville head coach Yannick Jean when he was asked if his team took control of that game in second period.
 
“We were lucky to be able to count on several good saves from our goaltender to be able to stick in that game to begin with and we get some momentum. We got a big goal (Charles-Antoine Roy first of the night) that tied the game one all and we took some confidence after this first goal.”
 
Quebec will play their next game on the road facing the same Victoriaville Tigres in second game of this home and home this Wednesday February 2^nd. The Remparts will be back home next Friday February 4^th and 5^th hosting respectively the Montreal Junior and the Gatineau Olympiques.
 
Other games in the QMJHL
Halifax 5 vs. PEI 4 (in shootout)
Baie-Comeau 2 vs. Saint John 5
Montreal 6 vs. Cape Breton 1
Shawinigan 3 vs. Drummondville 2 (in shootout)
Chicoutimi 2 vs. Lewiston 5
Gatineau 3 vs. Val-d’Or 2 (in shootout)
 
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com