/* QUEBEC CITY P.Q. — Shawinigan’s Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll’s two goals and one assist in the second period led the Cataractes to an important victory against Drummondville to tie the series at 1-1 with a 5-3 victory. The Colorado Avalanche free agent signee had ten shots on goal in the game and helped the Cataractes stop the Voltigeurs after 21 victories. Shawinigan dominated Drummondville in most every aspect of the hockey game. For those who had some questions about Shawinigan goaltender Timo Pielmeier, the former San Jose Sharks draft pick who was traded to the Anaheim Ducks earlier this season, answered the bell, specifically in the third period by making key saves to preserve the Shawinigan victory in this second game in front of 3,903 disenchanted Drummondville fans. As in Game 1, both teams traded scoring chances in the opening period, the first came from the stick of Drummondville right winger Yannick Riendeau with 2:30 minutes gone in the first period. Maxime Legault got his first Shawinigan scoring chance after being frustrated by Marco Cousineau, his first key save of the night. The Cataractes put plenty of pressure on Drummondville’s defenseman creating some turnovers in the defensive zone which led to some scoring chances by Shawinigan, but again Cousineau was there to make the save. The first half of the first period appeared to be dominated by Shawinigan, but some undisciplined penalties by the Cataractes changed the tempo of the game, and little by little, Drummondville came back to test Pielmeier. Two penalties to Shawinigan, one by Philippe Paradis (6:34) the other to Cataractes defenseman Simon Lacroix (8:22) gave Drummondville a five-on-three power play for 30 seconds, but Drummondville was unable to get near the Cataractes netminder. Drummondville drew first blood in the game when Mike Hoffman scored the first Voltigeurs goal on a great play by Christopher DiDominico, beating Pielmeier at 18:51 of the opening period. Fans in the Marcel Dionne Center saw an offensive second period when six goals were scored by both teams, four by Shawinigan, two by Drummondville. Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll two goals led the Cataractes offensive in the period. A key face off won by Shawinigan center Pierrick Martel led to Adam Leblanc-Bourque’s first goal of the series when his shot from the blueline possibly deflected off of a Voltigeurs defenseman, beating Cousineau between his pads at 2:14. Drummondville replied 16 seconds later when Captain Marc-Olivier Vachon pick a lose puck in the slot beating Pielmeier top net for second Voltigeurs goal at 2:30. Mental error by Drummondville center Mike Hoffman who decided to go to the bench to change lead to Shawinigan tying goal scored by Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll is 12th of the playoff at 4:56. Yannick Riendeau with a one timer with a man advantage gave 3-2 lead to Drummondville at 8:23. Matthew Pistilli brought both teams back to square one with third Shawinigan goal first of two, by Cataractes with a man advantage, when his shot from the slot, beat Voltigeurs netminder between the pads at 10:15. McNicoll with his second of the night during a penalty to Philippe Bergeron (15:08) gave the Cataractes the lead for the first time in the game at 16:25. Shawinigan left the ice leading 4-3 after forty minutes. Shawinigan took a two goal lead when Pittsburgh defensive prospect Alex Grant beat the Drummondville netminder with a shot stick side at 7:46. Referee Marc Muylaert allowed a penalty shot to Shawinigan left winger Philippe Paradis at 11:43 after a Voltigeurs defenseman Dmitry Kulikov hook Paradis. Cousineau made the save to keep his team in the game. After the game, Drummondville Head Coach Guy Boucher wasn’t happy about his teams performance. “They simply were better than us.” The battles along the boards in order to gain possession of the puck is another aspect of the game that Boucher wasn’t satisfied with during in the game. “It was equal and we did three stupid things. First, a stupid change. The puck is in the neutral zone and I have two players who came to the bench, it became a four-on-two, second goal we gave the puck, we told our defenseman to move the puck fast, one player kept the puck with an opponent on his back and my player took a penalty. And on the third goal, after a whistle, a player gave a punch in the face, the victory was there for them.” The next two games will be in Shawinigan at the Bionest Center on Tuesday and Wednesday night 19:00. Shots on goal: Shawinigan 43, Drummondville 33 Power plays: Shawinigan 2-4, Drummondville 1-7 Three Stars of the game: 1-Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll (Sha.) 2-Christopher DiDominico (Drum.) 3-Mathieu Bolduc (Sha.) Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com
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