Quebec signs first regular season win against Sherbrooke

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —Losing the opening game against arc-rival on Saturday afternoon, Quebec bounced back signing their first victory of the new regular season on Sunday winning 4-2 against the Sherbrooke Phoenix.

Dominating the first period in shots on goal (13-7) Patrick Roy’s team wasn’t able to put a puck behind visiting goaltender Brendan Cregan.

After a scoreless first period Quebec broke the ice only 48 seconds gone in second period. A turnover in middle ice led to first goal by new Quebec European right winger Aleksei Sergeev beating Sherbrooke goaltender Brendan Cregan on his right side.

Unable to speak English yet, the new Quebec Russian forward used the help of teammate Philipp Kurashev to let reporters know how he felt. It was short but it really translated how he felt. “Finally he score his first goal and he felt the game and I’m ready for more,” Alexksei Sergeev said after the game.

“He really like the atmosphere in the rink, everything his great.” Ended the new European player Sergeev.

Quebec added a second goal to their lead with only 1:29 remaining in the middle frame. Matthew Grouchy went on left side helped by teammate defenseman Etienne Verrette to beat Phoenix netminder on his left side with a precise wrist shot.

Sherbrooke cut Quebec lead in half as they score their first goal. Phoenix defenseman Jacob Arsenault surprised Quebec goalie Dereck Baribeau on his right side with a long wrist shot from the blue line 3:34 into the third period.

Going 0-in-4 with a man advantage Quebec regained their two goal leads scoring on their fifth power play opportunities as Louis-Filip Cote scored but as the play continued referee had to go to video review before being sure the goal was good. Philipp Kurashev took the first shot before Cote roofed the puck in at 8:51.

Also going 0-in-4 on their own power play Sherbrooke scored their second goal playing on a five-on-three power play. Felix Robert scored his first of the regular season ending the game 1-in-5 with a man up.

Andrew Coxhead scored the insurance goal in an empty net with 30 seconds left in the game.

Losing the first game of the year on Saturday Quebec head coach was anxious to see how his team would react on the following game the day after.

“Very happy of the team performance, happy the way we came out, yes I was anxious to see what kind of game we would play the day after, we did well, in first we did well, we have had tough time to adjust about the way they got the puck out of their zone, they always go with two players, they got several good scoring chances. Dereck (Baribeau) did an excellent job in first period to keep us in the game.” Quebec head coach Patrick Roy said in his post-game press conference.

“He closed the door making real good saves for us, for the rest I liked the way we played, if we would have been more confident around the net maybe we could have capitalized on lots of our chances, but overall I’m very happy the way we played,” continued Roy.

Victim of six goals the night before against the Oceanic Quebec goaltender Dereck Baribeau had a guilty feeling after the opening game, he felt he owed his teammate and his head coach Patrick Roy to play much better game.

“I owed one to the guys, allowing six goals against Rimouski wasn’t acceptable, last night if I had made the save on Oceanic third goal it could kept us in the game,” admitted the Minnesota Wild prospect Dereck Baribeau.

“Today it went very well guys blocked shots, we have had great communication between goaltender and defensemen that help us a lot on our offensive. They scored a goal as they played on five-on-three but we have clutches guys defensemen did the job, our 20 years old guys were very good tonight, they leaded the team,” continued Baribeau.

Sherbrooke came in Quebec after losing their first game in overtime 6-5 against Shawinigan Cataractes. Team got several scoring chances in first period, they got three breakaways to begin the game.

“We have had a great beginning, we had several scoring chances, got three breakaways in first ten minutes in first period but we weren’t opportunistic. Sherbrooke head coach Stephane Julien said.

“After that we were late on the play, they played very well defensively we had hard times to shoot the puck on net, we have to give them credit.” Phoenix head coach Julien continued.

Sherbrooke got great scoring chances at the end but weren’t able to get the puck behind Quebec netminder. “We believed until the end, we worked hard maybe not always the right way but we worked. In second we loses Samuel Poulin and Bailey Peach. Poulin got stiches and Peach went to hospital being injured to his shoulder.” Ended Julien.

Quebec will return in action next Thursday hosting Victoriaville Tigres.

Two other games were on QMJHL schedule on Sunday

Moncton 4 vs. Saint John 5

Victoriaville 0 vs. Rimouski 9

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