QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Three goals scored in the second period paved the way to a one-sided victory for Quebec.
After a scoreless first period, where Shawinigan goaltender Alex Dubeau prevented Quebec from taking a lead by making seven key saves inside the first 10 minutes, The Remparts scored three times in 12:05 of the second periods.
Besides scoring twice in the game, Ryan Bourque saw referee Nicolas Dutil award a penalty shot to number 91 after a Shawinigan defenseman froze the puck in the crease. Bourque was stopped by the Cataractes netminder keeping the score 0-0 after one period.
“I was going to see if he was out of his net a little bit or if he would stay tight and decide there if I was gone a shoot or just make a fake move. I saw an opportunity and looking back on it hindsight is always 20/20 vision so stop looking back on it but …,” said Bourque about his penalty shot in the first period.
The team came out much better than the night before in Victoriaville, with six or seven great scoring opportunities thanks to Shawinigan goaltender the visitor came out of the opening period with no score.
“We won’t be very happy with our last performance, we knew we had to come out and have a solid first twenty, we just had to keep working hard and keep the momentum. We fore-check real well tonight, it started there and the rest of the game came to us,” Bourque said about his team’s performance.
With Shawinigan forward Dominic Schlumpf in the penalty box 44 seconds into the second period, Quebec opened the scoring with Bourque’s first goal of the game 2:39 into the middle frame.
Veteran center Joel Champagne made it a 2-0 lead with a wrist shot hitting the roof of the net, beating Dubeau at 10:06.
Rookie Axel Rioux saw the puck slowly cross the goal line when he pushed a rebound from defenseman Alex Wall at 12:05.
Quebec seemed to build a comfortable 3-0 lead after twenty minutes and also led in shots on goal department 25-18.
Aton Zlobin, on Shawinigan’s third power play, scored the Cataractes’ first goal only 8 seconds after a Quebec penalty to center Olivier Hinse who had been sent to penalty box for holding at 0:24 into the third period.
Quebec regained their three-goal lead with the first goal scored in the QMJHL by Alexi Dufour in his second game with Quebec, being an affiliate player. Dufour’s goal came at 2:31.
Shawinigan came back 2:19 later scoring their second and last goal in the game. Maximilien Le Sieur beat Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue with a backhanded shot.
Another Quebec player had the honor of scoring his first goal in the QMJHL. Young defenseman Brandon Duke wristed a shot from the blue line and found a hole in Dubeau’s armor and went in at 9:22. Bourque scored Quebec’s sixth goal, his second of the night, and his 16th of the year 10:02 into third period.
Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux decided to pull his starting netminder after Quebec scored their sixth goal sending Gabriel Girard to end the game.
For one, Quebec head coach Patrick Roy seemed much happier after his team victory.
“I’m happy about the team performance, everyone played well tonight. Our four lines brought great contribution, our defensemen also works very well and our goaltender made key saves in the opportune times to prevent Shawinigan to get the momentum,” Roy said. “We were more focus to the game for sure; the difference in tonight game was we played with four lines. I sent the Dufour line against the one with Benjamin Casavant. I want to see what (Dufour) can do against that line, and he proved to me that he can do a job in the league. So later we will take some decision about what we will gone a do.”
“You built something, you play good defensively, good things happened to you and suddenly, it’s not like if we have good defense with extraordinary offensive talent. For me a defensive defenseman is someone who will clean the front of the net and took care of rebound in front of your goaltender. I found it really doll for the goaltender lately.” Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux said after the game.
“Alex (Dubeau) thought I was mad at him because I pulled him after Quebec sixth goal, au contraire I went to see him saying, ‘look it was your first game here in le Colisee Pepsi and you kept us in the game in first period’, our game plan was ok, we made sloppy mistakes.”
Quebec will end three games in three nights hosting the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Sunday afternoon
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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