Nov 04 Montreal Juniors Defeat Val D'Or, Jake Allen Stops 41 In 1-0 Victory in Verdun

It had been a tough week heading into tonight's game for the Montreal Juniors as they set up to receive the Foreurs from Val D'Or. A tough week indeed.

October 31st had them visiting this same Val D'Or team with a next to certain feeling they would skate out of the arena with an easy win with time to spare for some northern style trick-or-treating. And why not? Val D'Or was in last place overall and had only one win since the season started. The night ended up being more "trick" than "treat" for the Juniors as they left Val D'Or, 6-2 losers letting the Foreurs get 47 shots on Jake Allen.

The continued their road trip looking to salvage their inter-division swing going down to Rouyn-Noranda by a score of 2-1. The score was closer, but again, Allen had to face 42 shots while Montreal could only muster 18 of their own, with only 4 shots in the third period. Something had to give.

"Last week they weren't ready" said coach Vincent. "After this week, if some players are still not ready, they will be left aside" Waiting for the other shoe to drop? I later learned just before the puck drop that veteran Pat O'Keefe was stripped of his "A" while captain Matt Fillier was an unannounced scratch. To make matters worse, O'Keefe was hit in the face by a puck during the pre-game skate that called for 9 stitches, but the warrior eventually joined the game all stitched up and in full visor mode. 

It was time for the Montreal Juniors to respond to Pascal Vincent's message and in the end, provided a 1-0 win with some positive points to build on.

The good news was that the Juniors almost equalled their shots total for the entire game against the Huskies, popping 17 of them on goalie Jean-Sebastien Boucher. The bad news was that Val D'Or was not that far behind with Jake Allen seeing 16 come his way as he was again able to help his team end the first with a 1-0 lead after Angelo Esposito showcased his soft hands as he scooped up a Dmitri Kostromitin shot from the point and roofed it top shelf for his 3rd of the year. Esposito was playing his first game after a 2 week stint on the IR with a broken knuckle he incurred during a fight in his last game.

The Juniors wouldn't be able to mach that tally in the scoreless second period as their best opportunity came on the power-play where rookie Guillaume Asselin rang a laser of the goal-post from the hash marks. It was one of the only four shots the Juniors could manage on Boucher. The third period, although it didn't change anything as far as the score was concerned, kept the crowd into it as both teams went for broke with Val d'Or pulling Boucher with 30 seconds left only to have to serve that 30 seconds with a man down after a "hit from behind" major was assessed to Samuel Morneau after he pasted Taylor Macdougal into the boards.

I don't think this was a case where the Juniors underestimated their opponent. It seemed more a case of Val D'Or facing a team ahead of them in the standings and bringing their lunch pail to the ice. On the other hand, Montreal, while they perhaps could have shown a bit more jump in front of an announced paid attendance of 3246 which also featured esteemed guests such as Saku Koivu, Maxime Lapierre and Mathieu Dandenault, got the job done, on paper.

They scored on the power-play, even though it was on 7 attempts, while they kept the Foreurs at bay during their six kicks at the can.  Even the home crowd stood, counted down that last seven seconds and cheered their Juniors when all was said and done.

Yes, the Juniors left the ice with 2 more points and Jake Allen, the game's first star, had a shut-out for his 41 save effort against the Val D'Or Foreurs. " I don't care if I face 30, 40 or 50 shots in a game. My job is to stop the puck" he would later respond when asked how he felt about all the shots he has faced lately.

But you have to wonder if they will need to ramp it up a tad when they meet Gatineau on Friday and the first overall Shawinigan Cataractes at home on Saturday. By the way, Matt Fillier was NOT a healthy scratch. He was recuperating from a mild back injury and is day to day.

Pic by Amanda Stein

Tags: Angelo Esposito \ Jake Allen \ LHJMQ \ Matt Fillier \ Montreal Junior \ Pascal Vincent \ QMJHL