Drummondville takes first game at home winning against Victoriaville

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Trailing 0-2 as Voltigeurs goaltender was beaten twice on first four shots, Drummondville came back scoring four answered goals last one in an empty net signing a 4-2 wins against Victoriaville in a QMJHL second round playoff first game. Xavier Bernard on power play to begin the third periods got the distinction of scoring what became the game winning goal with only 53 seconds gone in the period.

“Its big win,” answered Drummondville head coach Dominique Ducharme. “When you begin a series you want to begin it on right foot, getting first win is important. The good thing is we know we can be better. We will take it, we are happy about it, we will look at it tomorrow with the players and we will be even better tomorrow.” Continued Voltigeurs head coach Ducharme.

In promising QMJHL second round series well known as the battle of road 122, Victoriaville drew first blood in game one and in the series. Tigres defenseman Jeremy Beaudin first shot has been block by Drommundville goaltender Olivier Rodrigue, unable to keep the puck, forward Mathieu Sevigny took a loose puck beating the first round selection third overall in 2016 by Drummondville on stick side with only 1:27 gone in the opening period.

Victoriaville came back 2:12 later as Victoriaville right winger Chase Harwell wrist shot beat Voltigeurs netminder over his right shoulder.

As the game was televised, Drummondville head coach took advantage of publicity pause to reunite his players making some adjustment. Closing the gap between defensemen and forwards, giving less time to their opponent to make play meaning more physical contact. As game became more physical that gave less times to Victoriaville to make play and making more mistakes.

Drummondville got on board cutting in half their opponent lead. Working along the board Xavier Simoneau made great pass to defenseman Nicolas Beaudin. Beaudin’s shot from the blue line went through lots of skates screening Victoriaville goaltender Etienne Monpetit who did not have chance. Beaudin’s goal came at 10:46.

If Victoriaville opened the scoring with only 1:27 gone in first period, trailing by one to begin the middle frame Drummondville tied the score with only 1:29 gone in second periods. Going on two-on-one breakaway Nicolas Guay made great move before passing the puck to his teammate Pavel Koltygin who only had to push the puck under Tigres netminder Monpetit.

Two beat scoring chances for Victoriaville team in middle frame belong to QMJHL best scoring leader in playoff Vitalii Abramov. First time on breakaway and on second times after beating Voltigeurs defenseman. On both occasions, Rogrigue closed the door.

The penalty to Victoriaville forward Abramov proved to be costly to Tigres since Drummondville scored power play goal 53 seconds into the third periods. Xavier Bernard shot from the blue line beat Tigres netminder top corner.

Trailing by one with less than two minutes to go Victoriaville head coach Louis Robitaille pulled his starting goalie in hope to see his team tie the game. Unfortunately trying to prevent an empty net goal Tigres defenseman Vincent Lenoue tried to prevent the goal by playing the puck but referee allowed the goal saying the Victoriaville defenseman did not play the puck.

Drummondville fourth goal was credited to Connor Bramwell an empty net goal at 19:38.

“That was the kind of beginning we hoped,” Victoriaville head coach Louis Robitaille said near his team locker room after first game of series. “We have had a little let down we were undisciplined, they took their chances on their power play. What I liked was we never let go we gave all we got until the end. We missed big scoring chances at the end, two goalpost Rodrigue made glove saves twice, we never let go, and we continued to work.”

Game two of quarterfinal between Victoriaville and Drummondville will be on Saturday.

Three other second round series were on QMJHL schedule on Friday.

Sherbrooke 1 vs. Acadie Bathurst 5 (Acadie-Bathurst lead series 1-0)

Charlottetown 4 vs. Halifax 3 (first overtime) (Charlottetown take the lead in the series 1-0)

Moncton 1 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand 6 (Blainville-Boisbriand lead series 1-0)

Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com