QUEBEC CITY, P.Q.—Identified by most experts as the team to beat in the QMJHL, the defending Memorial Cup champion gave more proof of how good the team might be defeating Quebec 6- 0 Sunday afternoon in Harbour Station in front of 3681 fans. Saint John ended the game with 48 shots on goals allowing only 22 to Quebec.
Playing their third game in as many nights, Gerard Galland’s team took control of the game by shooting 19 times on Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue and beaten only once in the opening period.
Danick Gauthier with two goals, one at even strength, the other in shorthanded situation and Jonathan Huberdeau 3 assists were Sea Dogs offensive leader in the game. Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault got his second shutout over the weekend in three games when his team wins 5- 0 in Halifax against the Mooseheads on last Friday.
Saint John gets on the scoreboard first with Danick Gauthier 15th goal in 15 games at 4:27 of the opening period. Gauthier’s wrist shot from the slot beat Domingue high on his glove side.
Both teams have had the chance to play with a man advantage without being able to score.
Saint John took back where they left off at the end of first stanza. After making good saves against Tomas Jurco and twice against Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan Beaulieu in first period, Domingue was lucky when Ryan Tesink hit the post to begin the second period.
Saint John adds to their leads scoring two goals in 1:13. Jason Cameron redirected a wrist shot from Sea Dogs veteran defenseman Charles-Olivier Roussel at 13:00 minutes making 2-0 Sea Dogs.
After missing a great scoring chance in the first period Jurco redirected a shot from Jonathan Huberdeau at 14:13 of middle frame. Domingue snaped his stick in frustration after the third Saint John goal.
The best scoring chance for Quebec came from the stick of Adam Erne who, hidden behind Saint John defense, he forced Mathieu Corbeil-Theriault to make a save to keep his shutout alive.
The Saint John netminder also made great saves against Mikhail Grigorenko, Anthony Duclair and Mathieu Lavallee with less than two minutes to go.
Consecutive penalties to Ryan Tesink (first one for slashing at 1:21, the second at 5:05 for interference) opened the door to Quebec who were unable to get the puck behind Sea Dogs netminder. Instead of breaking the shutout, Quebec was victim of back-to-back shorthanded goals.
Huberdeau Stephen MacAuley and Nathan Beaulieu came on breakaway against Remparts goaltender who didn’t have any chance when the 2011 Montreal Canadiens first round pick Beaulieu chip the puck high on Domingue glove side for Sea Dogs fourth goals in the game at 2:09 of the third period.
Gauthier took his own rebound scoring Saint John’s fifth goal with only 30 seconds remaining to Tesink penalty. Quebec defenseman Owen Werthner had his pass been intercepted by Saint John center.
Already 0 for 4 with a man advantage, Saint John saw two penalties given to Quebec to Philippe Archambeault and Mikael Tam for a five-on-three power play.
Quebec was able to kill the first penalty to defenseman Archambeault but was unable to repeat for the penalty to his captain Tam, seeing Charles-Olivier Roussel completing the effort from Kevin Gagne and Huberdeau at 16:20 of third period with only two only seconds remaining to Tam penalty.
Quebec’s next two games will be Friday October 28 when they will host the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. On Saturday, Shawinigan will be in town to play the Remparts.
Game Notes: In the game against the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday, the goal that was originally given to Quebec rookie defenseman Anthony Gingreas has been change after the game and be given to Frederick Roy.
Four other games were on schedule in Sunday
Chicoutimi 4 vs. Baie-Comeau 5
Moncton 4 vs. Blainville-Boisbriand 5
Rouyn-Noranda 1 vs. Val-d’Or 5
Cape Breton 2 vs. Victoriaville 5
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
You must be logged in to post a comment.