QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — The line of Joel Champagne (1g-1a) John Audy-Marchessault (2g-1a) and Patrick Walsh (0g-1a) played a key role in the Remparts victory ending with six points.
Quebec broke the ice scoring the first goal of the game with the help of a power play in the opening period. Quebec defenseman Alex Wall found Marchessault uncovered to Val-d’Or goaltender Jacob Chouinard’s left side completing the tic-tac-toe play at 3:55.
The visitors returned to their locker room trailing only by one after one period of play.
Quebec took control of the game in the second period scoring two more goals taking a 3-0 leads after two. Marchessault found Champagne near the goalmouth and Champagne’s wrist shot didn’t give any chance to Val-d’Or goaltender who was beaten on his stick side at 12:22.
Usually sent into games in a defensive role, Matthew Brown scored his second of the year with one minute remaining in the period. His wrist shot found a tiny hole between Chouinard’s pads for Quebec third goal.
“Trying to come from behind against a team like Quebec isn’t easy,” said Foreurs head coach Marc-Andre Dumont after the game. “We didn’t play good hockey in the second period, the Remparts were first on the puck and they took advantage of very opportunities they have had. They took control of the game there.”
A penalty to Val-d’Or right winger Jonathan Hazen gave another opportunity to Quebec to play with a man-advantage. Winner of another important face off center Mirko Hoefflin made a great pass to Ryan Bourque who wristed a shot from the slot beating Foreurs netminder on his stick side 3:05 into third period.
Almost perfect in the first two periods Quebec goalie Louis Domingue saw his shutout vanish when Val-d’Or got on the scoreboard at 11:08. Marc-Andre Begin beat Domingue preventing Quebec goaltender of repeating what his teammate (Jimmy Appleby) did the previous game against Cape Breton.
Jonathan Hazen got Val-d’Or’s second goal when his shot from the blue line seemed to surprise Domingue with less than five minutes remaining.
Foreurs head coach decided to change his goaltender after Quebec fourth goal sending in Francois Tremblay.
Chouinard left the game allowing four goals on 29 shots in 43:05 of play. Tremblay gave only one goal (if you forgot the empty net goal) on 10 shots in 16:33.
Quebec completed the scoring adding two more goals. Marchessault scored his second of the night in an empty net at 18:21 and Tomas Filippi adds another one Quebec sixth goals of the game with less than two minutes remaining.
Back with veteran center Champagne, Marchessault played a much better game, playing with more consistency.
“It went very well since I’m back with him ( Champagne) we seem to find each other very well on the ice at the beginning of the year and it seem to be the same,” said Marchessault to explain his recent success.
Patrick Roy was the first to praise his veteran forwards saying, “I would say since the last time I talked about him the message seem very well understood. He changes his attitude I have to admit I like what I saw off the ice, I just hope it will stay that way.”
About the game itself, Roy also liked what he saw from his team.
“We played a very good game tonight; Louis (Domingue) made several good saves to keep us in the game. What I like the most is if we excluded the empty net goal, we’ve got goals from five different guys that are good for us,” Roy said. “I don’t know who gave the stars tonight but I’m happy for Brown (Matthew) that he was selected as one of the stars because he played great game tonight. He scored a goal and it was one of his good games.”
Quebec will play their next two games on the road, in Halifax against the Mooseheads on Saturday December 11, and in Moncton against the Wildcats on Sunday December 12.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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