Feb 10 QMJHL - Montreal Juniors Sweep the Season Series Against the Victoriaville Tigres with a 3-2 Win

The Montreal Juniors and the Victoriaville Tigres faced off at the Verdun Auditorium this evening with very similar statistics. With only 1 point separating them in the QMJHL standings, both teams had a vested interest in winning this game. While 9th place Victoriaville had a slightly better record of goals scored for with 174 (13 more than the Juniors) , they were also a team that let in more goals than the 10th place Juniors have, thus far this season. 40 more, in fact. Montreal, who has owned the Tigres during the last 3 contests, having won 8-4, 7-3 and 4-1 during that span, would look to continue their dominance over Victoriaville.

With a slightly juggled line-up with regulars Toni Ritter (shoulder) T-J Brennan (suspension) and of course, second leading scorer Luke Adam, recently sidelined indefinitely with a ruptured spleen, the Montreal Juniors jumped onto the ice to the roar of the 3175 fans that showed up on a rare Wednesday night game to cheer on their team.

It was Victoriaville that would come on strong right out of the gate, controlling the puck down low in the Juniors' end and registering 4 shots before the Juniors got their first, which was a break from centre by Angelo Esposito that was stopped by goaltender Antonio Mastropietro. Montreal would then regroup and the teams would exchange chances with Mastropietro and Jake Allen both being tested early. The period would end scoreless but with Montreal having taken over the shots total by a margin of 9-6.

With just over two minutes into the second period, Montreal would get on the board when Pier-Antoine Dion skated down the left side into the Tigres zone, took a shot on Mastropietro, got his own rebound, went around the net and roofed a shot, blocker side past the Victoriaville netminder for his 12th of the season. Montreal would get some bad news at the 8 minute mark when Angelo Espoosito was taken heavily into the boards and would have to be helped off the ice, putting absolutely no weight on his right foot. With Pier-Antoine Dion in the box for tripping, the Tigres would even the score on the power-play when the Tigres would get at least 5 cracks at a loose puck in front of Jake Allen until Maxime Tanguay would finally put it into the net for his 22nd of the season. But the period would end with Montreal being on the power-play themselves for a full 4 minutes after Kirill Tulupov was assessed both a hooking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Montreal would start the 3rd period with a 2:36 power-play.

As is usually the case in hockey, when one team misses an opportunity to score, more than likely, the other team responds with a goal of their own. After Montreal was unable to score on a 4 minute power-play chance, the Tigres came into the Juniors zone shortly thereafter and Travis McIsaac put Victoriaville ahead 2-1 as he skated in on Jake Allen and beat him five hole. Montreal would tie it up at 9:54, with 2 seconds left in a Montreal Power-play when Pier-Antoin Dion got his second of the game by wristing a high rising shot past a partially screened Mastropietro. The Juniors would then go back on top at 10:34 with Darick Ste-Marie's 1st goal of the season. Ste-Marie won a battle in the Tigre's corner and slid the puck along the ice just past a surprised Mastropietro.

The Tigres would pull their goalie for the extra attacker with less than a minute to play and after a missed open net by the Juniors, Victoriaville stormed back and with 3 seconds left, threw the puck at Jake Allen who had to be sharp to keep his team ahead. A scrum ensued, a fight broke out between Montreal's Matt Fillier and Victoriaville's Joel Chouinard who were both ejected from the game for their efforts, and in the ensuing video review, the call was officially declared no goal. Montreal would win 3-2 and sweep the Tigres for the 2009 season.

Montreal's next challenge will be Friday night when they will host the 3rd place, 41-10-0-3 Quebec Ramparts. A tall task, considering the absence of not only Luke Adam, but most probably Angelo Esposito, however one can never underestimate the power of momentum. Puck drop is at 7:30 PM

Tags: Angelo Esposito \ Jake Allen \ LHJMQ \ Luke Adam \ Maxime Tanguay \ Montreal juniors \ Pier-Antoine Dion \ QMJHL \ victoriaville Tigres