Apr 06 QMJHL - Drummondville Voltigeurs Too Strong, Defeat Montreal Juniors 6-1 in Game 3

The Montreal Juniors were back at home and not a moment too soon as far as they were concerned. The Juniors were just off a two game away stint in Drummondville where they fell 7-1 in game 1 and then suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss against the league leading Voltigeurs. The Juniors would look to get in the win column by taking advantage of friendlier grounds and fans. But sometimes, not everything goes according to plans.

The game would not quite get off to the start the Juniors would hope for as the Voltigeurs came on strong, forcing Jake Allen to be sharp from the get-go, and he was. Before the Juniors could get a shot on Marco Cousineau, Drummondville had already pelted Allen with 8. Montreal would get into major penalty trouble which is never a good idea against a team that, going into this game had a 46% success rate during the playoffs. The Juniors, however, proved to be up to the task, thwarting all of Drummondville's chances, including a 36 second 5 on 3, allowing the Juniors to escape the period with a 0-0 tie.

The Second period would start off better for Montreal with a powerplay goal that ended up trickling over the goal line off the stick of Jeremy Gouchie, 1:42 into the period. Jake Allen had to be spectacular again this period as the Voltigeurs tested him time and time again. Were it not for Allen, Drummondville could have easily ended the second period with six or seven goals as the Voltigeurs outshot the Juniors 20-8 in the period. But Allen could not stop them all as the puck hungry Voltigeurs appeared to gain momentum with every passing second. They would tie the game up at the 5:48 mark, Benoit Levesque's first of the playoffs and with Montreal on the power-play, Marc-Antoine Desnoyers would take advantage of a giveaway in neutral ice as TJ Brennan and Nick Layton collided and potted a shorthanded goal at 17:53. Then with only 25 seconds left in the period, Yannick Riendeau would beat Allen on a quick shot to put the Voltigeurs up by a score of 3-1 at the end of two.

The third period would not be much better for the Juniors. The Voltigeurs were just too strong on the puck and barely let Montreal near it unless it was to clear the zone or block a Voltigeur shot. Drummondville would score on the powerplay early in the period with a sweet, hard shot from the point from Dmitry Kulikov seemingly taking the Juniors out of the game. Moments Later, with 13:03 remaining, even a failed 2 on 1 attempt could not stop the Voltigeurs. They simply regrouped, maintained puck possession and passed the puck to Patrik Prokop who one-timed a ripper past Jake Allen to bring the score to 5-1.

Montreal would not help their cause, giving up another 5 on 3 opportunity with just under ten minutes remaining in the game. At this point, it was quite evident that Drummondville was in total control, taking target practice on Allen while the Juniors could not wait to get off the ice. Montreal would no sooner kill of these penalties when they would again be short handed and the Voltigeurs would this time, make them pay. After nonchalantly passing the puck around the horn, it would end up at the side of the net where Yannick Riendeau wristed his 12th of the playoffs past a helpless Jake Allen.

Despite the lopsided shot totals and final score, and just prior to Drummondville blowing the game wide open, Montreal was able to skate with the Voltigeurs but were just being beaten down by a team that was much more confident, much more calm and simply much better than they were.  Drummondville did not finish first overall in the "Q" for nothing and the Juniors, other than some bad penalties, did put up a valiant effort towards a losing cause.

Montreal will have their work cut out for them as they try to avoid a sweep tomorrow night when they will reboot and replay at the Verdun Auditorium for game 4.

Tags: Drummondville Voltigeurs \ Jake Allen \ Jérémy Gouchie \ LHJMQ \ Montreal juniors \ playoffs \ QMJHL \ round 2 game 3 \ Yannick Riendeau