Quebec completes perfect weekend with victory over Val-d’Or

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —The3 Quebec Remparts completed a perfect weekend with 6-4 victory over the Val-d’Or Foreurs. Mikhail Grigorenko (1g-2a) and Frederick Roy (3a) brought important contributions in a dominating effort.
 
For Val-d’Or it was their third game in as many nights losing 6- 1 in Blainville Boisbriand on Friday in what was characterized as one of worst team efforts over the weekend. On Saturday, the Foreurs lost 3- 2 in a shootout against Drummondville.
 
“We missed some energy in some plays but I don’t think it was what should have made the difference,” said Foreurs head coach Marc-Andre Dumont in his post game press conference.
 
Asked if an empty tank might be a possibility that could explain the final result, he said, “No I think the tank wasn’t empty, it was more of missing energy. We gave up too many goals, we scored enough goals to win but we made defensive mistakes. They got three five-on-three so they tookadvantage of it.”
 
Talking about the games his team played over the weekend Dumont said, “You can’t be satisfied when you leave the arena without a victory. We can’t be satisfied by that. We have had a good sequence before going on the road over the weekend. We began our weekend with an unacceptable performance, totally unacceptable. All the rest of the weekend we ran after our tail, it was unprofessional. We can’t come in our league one night and think the victory is assured. We have players who are with us in last four, five years, we expect them to lead.”
 
Quebec opened the scoring two minutes in on the third goal of the season by Mathieu Lavallee. Owen Werthner and Alexandre Contois got the helpers.
 
Val-d’Or tied the game 10:34 later when a shot from Anthony Mantha went through Quebec netminder Francois Brassard’s pads.
 
A perfect pass from Grigorenko to Anthony Duclair ended behind Val-d’Or goaltender Francois Tremblay for Quebec second goal 1:07 later.
 
Trying to kill a penalty to defenseman Philippe Archambault, Quebec scored their first shorthanded goal in 20111-12 season with only 48.5 seconds remaining. Jreremie Malouin also scored his third of the year.
 
Val-d’Or reduced the Quebec lead to one goal when a backhanded shot by Samuel Hanley went through the five-hole following a great pass from behind the net by Mathieu Guertin 5:32 into the second period.   Being 0-in-2 with a man advantage, Quebec restored their two goal leads with their first goal of the game during the penalty to Foreurs center Michael Beaudry.   Remparts captain Mikael Tam only had to push the puck the puck behind Val-d’Or netminder after getting great pass from behind the net by Grigorenko at 9:22. Quebec was 1-4 with a man advantage after two periods.  

Francois Brassard – Photo by Serge Poulin

Val-d’Or cut Quebec lead for second time in the game on their third power play opportunity. Winning his battle along the board Mathieu Guertin found Nicholas Dionne who scored Foreurs’ third goal with 29.8 remaining to the middle frame.   Val-d’Or came back for a third time reducing Quebec lead to one goal when Artem Sergeev shot from along the right side beat Brassard for third times between his pads at 17:15 of the third periods.   Playing with a man advantage for the seventh time in the game, Quebec hit the final nail to close the Val-d’Or coffin. Adam Erne scored Quebec’s sixth goal, third with a man advantage with 2:42 remaining.   After the game the Quebec head coach Patrick Roy didn’t want to put the blame on his young netminder Brassard for allowing four goals, three between his pads.   “He wasn’t good,” Roy admitted after the game. “But he is only 17 and he

Over 5000 teddy Bears were tossedafter Quebec 1st – Photo by Serge Poulin

will learn. It happened but we largely dominated them, I very satisfied about the team performance, I think moved the puck very well, we were super with a man advantage guys played strong game.”   Quebec will go to Baie-Comeau playing the Drakkar on Tuesday before coming back home to host the Prince Edward Island Rocket next Friday.   Four other games were on schedule in the QMJHL on Sunday Saint John 2 vs. Halifax 3 Moncton 1 vs. Chicoutimi 7 Rouyn-Noranda 2 vs. Gatineau 3 Shawinigan 5 vs. Rimouski 0   Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com