Loss of possession, indiscipline and much more convincing Mooseheads than the day before put an end to the Remparts’ invincibility in the playoffs on Saturday at the Videotron Center, which again had a full house.
Thanks to Halifax’s 6-3 win, the QMJHL Finals series is now tied 1-1.
However, after their game on Friday in which they triumphed 5-1, Patrick Roy’s charges started the confrontation with full force, certainly overdoing it to block.
Acclaimed player of that series, Zachary Bolduc, quickly made Jake Furlong (and the Mooseheads) pay, who was being hounded for keeping him. The No. 15, author of 50 goals in the regular season, defeated goalkeeper Mathis Rousseau midway through the first half with a powerful shot to the faceoff circle.
Then, about six minutes later, James Malatesta rocked an already-animated Videotron Center as he in turn defeated the Mooseheads’ Rousseau with a lively throw.
But the party was short-lived for the 18,259 spectators who came to cheer on the Red Devils, who were unbeaten in their first 13 playoff games and on a 21-win streak in the regular season.
“We didn’t play a good game. What their coach accused his players of [de ne pas avoir travaillé assez fort, vendredi]”It was our turn,” analyzed Patrick Roy.
A crucial goal at the end of the quarter
In the opposing clan, Sylvain Favreau was delighted to see his players roll up their sleeves in the second game of the final. “It definitely made the difference. It’s so crucial, the level of competition, when you’re playing against a talented and disciplined team,” he said.
It was Alexandre Doucet who turned the game around at the end of the first period as he reduced the deficit to one goal while Pier-Olivier Roy was in the penalty box.
For this net was a foretaste of what the second skirmish would be like, by far the worst the Remparts had fought in a long time.
He did a lot of damage in Quebec… and a lot of good in Halifax, say the players and their coaches interviewed after the game.
“It definitely helped,” said Doucet, who finished the game with four points. Goals in the first or last second change the look of a game.
“A goal at the end of the quarter always hurts more,” confirmed Bolduc. But a meeting lasts 60 minutes. We can’t stay there. We will learn from this and something like this will not happen again.
“Too many penalties”
Then, reinvigorated, Halifax took full advantage of Quebec’s generosity: in turn, Zachary L’Heureux, Furlong, Brady Schultz and Josh Lawrence, from an impossible angle, silenced Remparts supporters who suddenly had no big thing to hold on to …except for half the amount, which again increased at a breathtaking rate, eventually reaching $279,382.
“I think we took too many penalties. [Halifax a marqué deux fois en avantage numérique], brought up Malatesta. It’s a talented team, they made us pay for it. We also didn’t manage the puck as well as we did in the first game. […] We shot ourselves in the leg.”
It’s been a while since we’ve seen William Rousseau so generous, but the local keeper’s defense could have been even bigger had it not been for a few stops at Extremis.
Photo Didier Desbusschere
Justin Robidas, with 4:37 left in the third half, closed the gap slightly, sneaked up to the Mooseheads’ goal and then put the puck into the net. But with so little time left, the climb was too steep for Quebec.
Doucet finally sealed the Remparts’ fate in an empty net with his second goal of the game.
“It’s up to us to take it back”
Nonetheless, the Red Devils head coach felt that by the end of the game his players were sending a good message ahead of Tuesday’s clash in Halifax.
“The game we’re going to play there doesn’t start on Tuesday. He started in the third third, emphasized Patrick Roy. At that point we started preparing for this game. We wanted to break their momentum. I think we played really well in the third half.
Photo Didier Desbusschere
“We’ve lost the advantage of the ice, it’s up to us to bring it back there,” he added. We would have liked to have remained unbeaten to the end, but unfortunately we’re dealing with a good team. They still played a good game. But even though we weren’t good, we could have scored at times.
“The winning streak we had just gave us confidence, I think. “A defeat like this will not take away our victory,” assured Bolduc.
► Tickets for the fifth game, played at the Videotron Center on Friday, will go on sale Sunday noon.
► Defender Vsevolod Komarov, who was injured on Friday, was already back in training for the Remparts. Captain Théo Rochette did not finish the game. Patrick Roy did not provide any information on the attacker’s health.
► Jordan Dumais, the QMJHL’s top scorer in the regular season, was again absent from the Mooseheads.