QMJHL - Montreal Juniors Break Losing Streak and Defeat Baie-Comeau Drakkar 4-2
The Montreal Juniors hosted the Baie-Comeau Drakkar at the Verdun Auditorium and were looking to break their 4 game losing streak, a streak including 3 games against teams beneath them in the standings. Tonight was no exception as the Drakkar came into town 3rd last in the QMJHL standings and Montreal would look to capitalize against a Baie-Comeau team that was second (by one goal) in goals allowed against.
The first period was filled with shots from both sides with both goaltenders being tested early and often. Jake Allen saw most of the dangerous shots and had to contend with a 2 on 1 as well as a break-away by Guillaume Goulet, who split Montreal's "D" before shooting on Allen, who was back to fine form and stopped both attempts. Montreal would get a few chances of their own with Pier-Antoine Dion hitting the crossbar at the halfway point, beating Drakkar goaltender Nathan Dunnett. Dunnett would have absolutely no chance on the Juniors' and the periods only goal when Nick Layton picked up a puck from the neutral zone, warded off two Drakkar players as he skated into their zone and found Matt Fillier all alone. Fillier deftly deked Dunnett with a fake and slid the puck through the 5 hole.
The second period could not have started better for the Juniors as Guillaume Goulet was in the box for hooking and after a failed attempt at the side of the net, the Juniors retried the set play and this time Esposito one timed the Nick Layton feed with perfection past Dunnett. Baie-Comeau would answer in kind and respond quickly, with a goal of their own as Guillaume Goulet potted his 33rd of the year with a wrister through a crowd. The announcer had only just finished announcing the goal when the Drakkar would tie the game up at 2. Emrick Guillemette got the credit for this goal, another from the hash marks that beat Allen. But in the latter stages of the period, Montreal became more aggressive and were winning the small battles. At 17:17, that work paid off with Matthew Brenton stuffing the puck past Dunnett in a goalmouth scrum. Montreal would end the 2nd as they did the 1st, up by a goal.
The third period was capped off with an empty net goal by Philippe Fontaine of the Juniors. The key for Montreal's win on this night however, was their aggressiveness, limiting the Drakkar to only 2 power-play opportunities, including one with just over two minutes to go in the game(which resulted in Fontaines goal after Dunnett was pulled for the extra attacker). Montreal went 1/3 while on the man advantage. After ending a 4 game losing skid, hopefully Montreal can build from this win and begin another streak in the other direction.
The Juniors will have their work cut out for them as the competition will be the Victoriaville Tigres on Wednesday and the Quebec Remparts on Friday.
Photo by Amanda Stein.
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