QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — For someone who didn’t watch the game, he might say the game was a total domination by Quebec. For the 12,264 fans who saw the game, the difference was the third period where Quebec scored four times late in the period leading the home team to victory.
Photo by Serge Poulin
The talent simply came out on top in the final stanza. Quebec took the lead 2-0 on two power play goals scored with a man up. The first one came with 6:08 in the first period when Martin Lefebvre saw his shot beat Rouyn-Noranda goaltender Jeffrey Moonan following great pass from Frederick Roy.
“I don’t think the final score reflected the kind of game we played tonight, the guys tried everything, the work hard in front of our net, they did everything for us to come out with a point at the end but the talent on the other side made the difference in the third period,” Rouyn-Noranda head coach Gary Parke said after the game.
“It’s a team with lots of skills,” continued the Huskies head coach to explain how things turned out for his team in the third period. “You can lose some chances but they capitalized on their chances at the end. It was little mistakes that came to haunt us and cost us the game. We worked hard here tonight, the fans got a great show tonight but when we made little errors it cost us at the end.”
Jonathan Audy-Marchessault celebrated his 20th birthday with a two-goal performance scoring the Remparts’ second goal, the second one with a man-advantage completing great work by defenseman Alex Wall and Alexandre Grenier at 16:54 in the opening period.
“Yes it is fun for my family that came to Quebec for the holidays, it is fun to be able to play a big game in front of them,” said Marchessault about his two-goal performance.
Photo by Serge Poulin
But before the first period ended, the Huskies reduced the Quebec lead to one goal. Robbie Defulviis beat Quebec goaltender Jimmy Appleby at 18:50. Jonathan Bonneau brought both teams back to square one with Rouyn-Noranda’s second goal when left alone to Quebec netminder’s left side he only had to push the puck in the net following the first save on Jeremi Janneteau’s shot at 7:24 of the second period.
Recently acquired from Shawinigan Cataractes, Joe Dube scored his first goal in his new uniform and in front of his new fans, when he took a rebound from Alexandre Grenier pushing the puck in the net at 15:37 regaining the lead, 3-2, with less than five minutes to go in the period.
But the visitors came back with a late goal in the second period tying the score 3-3 with less than three minutes remaining. Jason Kelly scored Rouyn-Noranda third goal at 17:59, a goal Quebec head coach Patrick Roy didn’t like, replacing his starting goaltender Appleby with his veteran Louis Domingue to begin the third.
“Yes and no,” said Quebec head coach Roy when asked of the third goal scored by Rouyn-Noranda at the end of second period. “I can’t say I’m happy about Jimmy’s performance tonight but not at the point of pulling him out. What motivated my decision was to prepare Louis (Domingue) for tomorrow night against Drummondville. I didn’t think he played a great game but if we were in the middle of the season where Louis might need time off I wouldn’t have pulled Jimmy.”
Quebec played their best period of the game in the third scoring four times, three of the goals were inside one minute. Marchessault started the explosion with his second of the night at 15:38. Recently recalled from the Panthers of St. Jerome (Junior AAA), Alexandre Grenier scored his first goal in the QMJHL adding two assists ending his night with (1g-2a), at 16:16. Frederick Roy scored Quebec’s sixth goal with 4:22 remaining and Joe Dube ended the night with his second of the game on a power play at 19:40.
Photo by Serge Poulin
“At the beginning I was nervous but after the first shift everything went well,” said Dube the new acquisition back on December 19 by Quebec. “I played with Grenier (Alexandre) last year with St. Jerome. The chemistry was there, explaining the great complicity between the two new players. “We didn’t play real well in first two periods but we talked between the second and third and we came back strong in third.”
“I played with Joe (Dube) last year so I knew where he was on the ice,” said Grenier when he talked about the great pass he made on Dube first goal at the end of second period. “I gave lots of credit to them, continued Grenier when asked if he scores goals in the Junior AAA. Defensemen plays much better in the QMJHL compared to Junior AAA, they execute better in Junior Major.”
Talking about his team effort in third period Roy said, “We didn’t play our best hockey in the first two periods, I told the players after the second period it wasn’t because we didn’t have our legs in the first two periods that we weren’t at the best of our game, we had to find a way to win the game. That is what the guys did in the third period.”
Asked about the performance of the new players in the Quebec lineup Roy was very satisfied of what he saw from his new players, “Yes I was very satisfied, I like what I saw from Grenier who drove the net. He got a very good pass from Tam (Mikael) but if he wasn’t there, he won’t have been able to do what he did. That is the kind of play I want to see from him. He ended his night with 1 goal, 2 assists but it wasn’t the statistics, I like the way a player plays on the ice.”
Quebec will return to action tonight in Drummondville facing the Voltigeurs on the road before coming back home on Thursday to face Baie-Comeau Drakkar on December 30.
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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