Victoriaville need shootout to defeat Quebec for second time

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —Dominated 48-31 in shots on goal after 65 minutes of play Victoriaville got the last word winning 5-4 in shootout over the Quebec Remparts. Tigres captain Simon Lafrance was the only players in the shootout to beat Quebec goaltender and former Tigres goalie Anthony Morrone.

Dominating 18-4 in shots on goal Quebec saw Victoriaville opened the scoring on their first shot on goal. In a two-on-one breakaway Igor Serdiyk redirect the shot from teammate Feliks Morozov with 14:10 remaining in the opening period.

Quebec tied the game less than two minutes later as Matthew Grouchy wrist shot beat Victoriaville goaltender Fabio Iacobo over his left shoulder at 7:10.

In an offensive second period, the teams traded goals as Victoriaville took the lead twice, but on each occasion Quebec came back tying the game. Going 0-in-1 with a man advantage Victoriaville took the lead for second times as they took advantage of Quebec penalty to Aleksei Sergeev.

Going by Quebec defenseman Sam Dunn along the left board, Tigres center Simon Lafrance took first shot blocking by Quebec goalie Anthony Morrone. Unable to control the rebound, the puck bounce back and Tigres center Lafrance only had to push back former Victoriaville netminder acquired in training camp 1:10 into the middle frame.

Quebec came back for second times tying the game 2-2 1:35 later. Following a face-off won in offensive zone by Philipp Kurashev Quebec defenseman Christian Huntley one-timer left no chance to Victoriaville netminder on his left side.

Victoriaville regained the lead for third times on Mathieu Sevigny wrist shot beating Morrone on his right side with 15:14 to play in middle frame.

Quebec came back again, their third times in the game. Leaving the penalty box Quebec left winger Olivier Mathieu beat Tigres goalie Iacobo with a back hand shot with 12:28 to play in second period.

With the score tied 3-3 Quebec was the beneficiary of a five-on-three power play for 1:36 following consecutive penalties to Igor Serdyuk and to Mathieu Sevigny. Fortunately for Tigres head coach Maxime Desruisseaux they were able to kill the penalties.

With the score been tied after forty minutes of play Quebec took the lead for first time in the game. Been tenacious taking loose puck making a pass in neutral zone to Kurashev, Christian Huntley left no chance to Iacobo as he scored his second goal in the game beating Tigres goalie with a wrist shot from the slot after Quebec center Kurashev gave the puck back to Quebec defenseman with 13:34 left to play in the third period.

Going 1-in-4 with a man advantage, Victoriaville didn’t missed their fifth power play opportunities as Quebec defenseman Etienne Verrette was in the box. A perfect tic-tac-toe play between Mikhail Abramov, Igor Serdyuk led to Sean Larochelle fifth goals of the regular season to get both teams back to square one for a fourth times in the game.

After five minutes overtime where neither team was able to score playing three-on-three, Victoriaville got the last word in shootout as Tigres captain Simon Lafrance was the only one to score against Quebec goalie Morrone for 5-4 win in shootout.

Quebec ends their weekend in Gatineau facing the Olympiques on Sunday afternoon.

Three other games were on QMJHL schedule on Friday night

Val-d’Or 3 vs. Moncton 4 (shootout)

Rouyn-Noranda 4 vs. Sherbrooke 5

Charlottetown 3 vs. Drummondville 6

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