Shawinigan force game seven winning 4-2 over Quebec

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. — Who would believe these two teams will need to play a game seven to determine which teams between Shawinigan and Quebec will earn the right to go to next round. After trailing twice in that series (2-0, 3-1) the Shawinigan Cataractes will be involved in a seventh game for the second time since 2009 (first time losing against Drummondville).
 
With their backs against the wall for the second time, the team that ended the regular season seventh overall, offered solid efforts for sixty minutes to come out as winner in game six in front of 4,460 fans.
 
Shawinigan goaltender Gabriel Girard never lost the head coachs’ confidence even after the first two   games, being replace by young 16 year old Alex Dubeau for the third period in game three. Being second guessed by fans and some media, Eric Veilleux stuck with his veteran netminder sending him back between the pipes in game four, five and six, all won by the Cataractes.
 
Leading 4-0 after the first fifty minutes, Shawinigan saw their opponent score two goals inside next 2:30 (Matthew Brown 13:16; Joel Champagne 15:49 on power play) to make the score 4-2. But it was too late for Patrick Roy’s team who gave credit to Shawinigan for their performance.
 
“We have to give credit to the Cataractes, they were the best team on the ice tonight,” the Quebec head coach Roy said after the game. “They ( Shawinigan) executed better than us; our decision making wasn’t the best, but we played against a team that worked very well to earn the win.”
 
Answering questions about his best players, if they weren’t playing nervously Roy said, “No I didn’t felt our players played nervously, but we will see both teams involved in the seventh game. It will be very good, we will have lots of ambiance in le Colisee Pepsi. It’s the way we have to look at it. We didn’t have a great day today, so we will have to regroup, and finds solution for the next game.”
 
Besides the  Shawinigan netminder, who ended his night making 31 saves on 33 shots, players united their efforts to regroup defensively and block shots, playing much better defensively, to prevent Quebec forwards from getting good scoring chances.
 
Working at 40 percent efficiency, the  Quebec power play scored only once (six against four) in five attempts. Shawinigan scored all their goals at even strength.
 
After being pointed out for their inefficiany since the series began, Benjamin Casavant, Mikael Bournival and Yannick Veilleux answered the bell in last two games with one goal each in game six.
 
Coming out as winner in first round series against Val-d’Or, even if he didn’t offered his best performance in goal, Quebec goaltender Louis Domingue played much better in the first three quarter-final games in that series, but in last three games, he has been beaten by questionable goals. The big question now is, which one will show up for game seven on Tuesday night? Teh answer will be found around 10:00 o’clock on Tuesday night, if you don’t have overtime.
 
Electricity was in the air in the Bionest Center for game number six in the Quarter-Final series between Quebec and Shawinigan.
 
After seeing Gabriel Girard make key saves on Frederick Roy (twice), Vincent Barnard and Ryan Bourque on Quebec’s first nine shots in first 12:12 seconds, Shawinigan broke the ice only for the second times in that series.
 
Benjamin Casavant (no goal in first five games in that series), pushed the puck behind the Quebec goaltender, after taking a rebound from Maximilen LeSieur shot near Domingue’s goal crease. Referees Mario Dutil and Eric Charon refused to go to the video replay like the Quebec coach Patrick Roy suggested before allowing Shawinigan first goal in the game at 17:23.
 
Before giving up the first goal to the Shawinigan left winger, the Quebec netminder made two key saves on Shawinigan center Mikael Bournival and defenseman Marc-Antoine Goyette on the Cataractes first ten shots in same 12:12 seconds.
 
The second period was only 55 seconds old, and Shawinigan sent their power play unit on the ice following a penalty to Quebec forward Mirko Hoefflin for delay of game. Quebec successfully killed that penalty without giving up scoring chances.
 
After making a miraculous save with 17.1 seconds remaining in game five to force the overtime and eventually seeing his team win the game 4-3, Shawinigan goaltender made another miraculous save with his left pad, to prevent Patrick Roy’s team from tieing the score with the game only five minutes old.  
 
Shawinigan added a second goal at 13:13 of the second period, when Yannick Veilleux beat Domingue under his right pad with a shot the Quebec goalie should have stopped.  So after forty minutes of play Shawinigan lead 2-0.
 
Mikael Bournival scored Shawinigan’s fourth goal, taking the rebound from a Peter Sakaris shot 4:50 into third period. Out of the line up in first two games due to a lower body injury (reads leg injury), Ryan Kavanagh came back in game five. Kavanagh beat Domingue for Cataractes fourth goals4:07 seconds after Shawinigan’s third goal.
 
After the game Shawinigan head coach Eric Veilleux seemed very happy about his team performances.
 
“I think we played a very good game. We worked on things we need to work on (reads getting out of their defensive zone), we did it better than last game, our transitions also were better. Our defensemen played very well, blocking lots of shots. You saw our players playing desperate hockey but intelligently. They are dedicated; they didn’t care who it was; they threw themselves in front of shots, to block it, and it’s often what wins games.”
 
Game seven will be next Tuesday April 19 in Quebec.
 
Other Quarter-Final series in QMJHL
Montreal 2 vs. Lewiston 6 ( Lewiston wins series 4-2 over Montreal)
Drummondville 3 vs. Gatineau 6 ( Gatineau wins series 4-2 over Drummondville)
 
Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com