Nov 07 Montreal Juniors Fall Short 2-1 Versus 1st Place Shawinigan Cataractes

After back to back victories against Val d'Or on Wednesday and Gatineau last night, the Montreal Juniors headed back home to the Verdun Auditorium for a match against a team that was on a little roll of their own.

The Shawinigan Cataractes, first place overall in the "Q" were in town to face the Juniors and looked to extend their winning streak to 11 straight games. Montreal, after another impressive performance by goalie Jake Allen, managed a 2-1 victory over last place Val D'Or and then tapped into their scoring well last night with an impressive 6-3 win after being down 3-0 at the end of the 1st period, responding with 6 unanswered goals. Angelo Esposito tallied a hat trick and Luke Adam potted two goals and an assist with TJ Brennan rounding out the scoring for the Juniors.

The question was, who had the stronger wind in their sales on this night? A night in which the pregame ceremony included the announcement that Esposito, Adam and Allen would all be representing Canada in the upcoming Canada-Russia tournament to be held later this month.

The odds were highly stacked against Montreal from the get-go. The only stat these two teams were similar in was the "goals against" tally at 57. The comparison stops there. Shawinigan came into the game with a 37.7% success rate on the power-play, almost double Montreal's rank and had scored over 40 goals more than Montreal so far this year. But statistics are only there for posterity's sake. Montreal, although they didn't win, proved they could go toe to toe against the Cataractes on any given night.

Montreal was extremely lucky to get out of a very entertaining 1st period with a 1-1 tie. It only took Shawinigan a minute and thirty-one seconds to get on the board as a battle for the puck behind the Montreal goal resulted in a pass out front to Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll who caught Jake Allen looking the other way. Montreal would counter less than 5 minutes later during a 4 on 4 situation with Alex Wall doing what he does best, going end to end with the puck and just as he ran out of room inside the Shawinigan zone, crossed it to Guillaume Asselin who one timed it, top shelf, tying the game with his 7th of the season. Montreal managed to stop the number 1 power-play in the league during their three attempts and got lots of help from Jake Allen who made a spectacular flopping save while almost surely beaten, denying McNicoll his second goal of the game and Allen would also have his posts to thank as they proved instrumental in keeping the Cataractes at bay as well. Montreal was outshot 15-6 during that span.

Shawinigan would go ahead 2-1 in the second after Montreal was unable to convert on a power-play, yet showed great puck control. On a missed crossing attempt by TJ Brennan at the point, Nicholas Petersen intercepted the puck and broke free on Jake Allen. Allen made an excellent save to stop Petersen but gave up a rebound to Brad Yetman who was all alone, following up on the play and put his first of the season past Jake who seemingly had no help on the play. Despite this goal, Montreal dominated the entire second period, being aggressive on the puck and pressuring the Cataractes' defensemen constantly while in the Shawinigan zone, which was often. 

The third period would change nothing other than shot totals and save percentages. Montreal, despite this loss, could skate off the ice holding their heads high with some food for thought. While the Cataractes have been known to blow out their opponents by multiple goal leads, montreal put in a valiant effort and kept it close, giving no quarter. They were able to stop the league's best power-play during their 4 attempts and if Montreal would have been able to capitalize on any of their 5 opportunities, or had Angelo Esposito been able to convert on any of his two break-away attempts on Timo Pielmeier, the outcome could have been completely different.

The Juniors will have a few days to ponder the above as they move on to face the Titans from Bathurst at the Verdun Auditorium on Wednesday the 12th and then host the Rocket from PEI on Friday before heading on the road the very next day to face Gatineau. Montreal will head right ome on Sunday where they will again host Moncton. Montreal, in fact plays 11 games this month. It's November and it's hockey season folks.  

Join us on Sunday morning from 8:30 to 10:30 on AM1690 or CJLO.com as the Franchise reviews the Juniors' week that was.

Tags: Angelo Esposito \ Guillaume Asselin \ Jake Allen \ Luke Adam \ Montreal juniors \ Shawinigan Cataractes \ Verdun Auditorium