QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —Having lost the night before at the hands of Cape Breton, Quebec Remparts came in Victoriaville facing great challenge as the Tigres were only three points behind Quebec with one game in hand. Ranked ninth overall with 49 points, Victoriaville was 10th with 46 points. With the score being tied after 40 minutes of play, centering Quebec fourth line, Jesse Sutton, scored the goal that made the difference in favor of the visiting team with 8:14 remaining in the third periods leading Quebec to 2-1 win.
Victoriaville opened the scoring 12:44 into the opening period as Chase Harwell scored his 12th of the season beating Quebec goaltender Antoine Samuel under his left arm.
Kept out of scoring sheet since his acquisition from Charlottetown, Matthew Groutchy tied the score as he took advantage of a mistake by Victoriaville goaltender Alex Montpetit behind his net. Quebec right winger scored his 12th of the year at 18:26.
Quebec dominated Victoriaville 14-4 in shots on goal.
Quebec began second period continuing to control the paste of the game dominating 26-16 in shots on goal even if neither team was able to score goal. Quebec best scoring chance came from the stick of defenseman Christian Huntley. Left alone in slot the Quebec defenseman forced Tigres netminder to make a key save with his left pads.
Victoriaville defenseman Jeremie Beaudin also got best home scoring chance but like Tigres netminder, Quebec goalie Samuel kept the door closed stopping Beaudin to keep the score tied 1-1 after two periods of play.
Quebec right winger Pascal Laberge was found guilty for holding by referee Simon Tartre with 22 seconds remaining in middle frame, a bad penalty giving to Victoriaville the chance to end the second period with their second power play of the game and beginning the third one with 1:38 remaining to their power play. Quebec was 0-in-4 with a man advantage in 40 minutes of play.
After successfully killing the 1:38 seconds left to Quebec forward Pascal Laberge, visitor had to face another big task as they had to kill a five-on-three for 1:01 following consecutive penalties to Quebec center Philipp Kurashev and left winger Olivier Garneau. Quebec also killed these penalties to keep the score tied.
Trying to find combination that work Quebec head coach Philippe Boucher reunited Olivier Mathieu, Jesse Sutton and Pierrick Dube. Working deep in the offensive zone the line produced the goal that made the difference in favor of Quebec. Trying to push the loose puck near the goalie crease behind the goal line it was finally Jesse Sutton who has been credited of his 12th of the year with 8:14 remaining in the third period.
Ivan Kosarenkov hit the crossbar with less than two minutes left to the game but Quebec goalie Antoine Samuel who allowed six goals on 32 Cape Breton shots the night before made 23 saves on Victoriaville shots to preserve his team win.
Quebec will end the weekend on Sunday afternoon hosting the Acadie-Bathurst Titans.
Six other games were on QMJHL schedule on Friday night
Halifax 3 vs. Charlottetown 2 (overtime)
Rouyn-Noranda 4 vs. Sherbrooke 1
Acadie-Bathurst 0 vs. Baie-Comeau 3
Saint John 1 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand 5
Cape Breton 4 vs. Chicoutimi 1
Ottawa 67’s 5 vs. Gatineau 0
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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