Mooseheads end Remparts’ run to draw even in Final Series
Halifax has become the first team to defeat the Quebec Remparts in the 2023 Gilles-Courteau Trophy playoffs. In the process, the Mooseheads captured home ice advantage thanks to a 6-3 triumph at Centre Videotron in Game 2 of this year’s QMJHL Championship series.
Alexandre Doucet, with a pair, Zachary L’Heureux, Jake Furlong, Brady Schultz and Josh Lawrence each scored for the Mooseheads. Doucet, L’Heureux and Lawrence also added a pair of helpers. Zachary Bolduc, James Malatesta and Justin Robidas countered for the Remparts. In nets, Mathis Rousseau steered aside 21 shots for the win while William Rousseau made 24 saves in the loss.
Although the Mooseheads grabbed a 10-6 advantage in shots, the Remparts would earn a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes of play. While the home side enjoyed a four-on-three power play, Bolduc opened the scoring at 7:56 with his ninth of the postseason, firing a one-timer that just snuck by Rousseau. At 13:03, Malatesta scored his tenth of the playoffs, jumping on a loose puck and firing home a wrist shot high to the far side. The visitors would hit the scoresheet with a timely power play goal as Doucet, at the side of the net, converted a perfect feed from Markus Vidicek with just 11 seconds remaining in the opening period.
It was all Moose in the middle frame, the club accounting for all the scoring and grabbing a 5-2 lead in the process. L’Heureux got things started at 3:35 with his ninth when a Lawrence shot from along the boards went off his skate before surprising Rousseau. Just under two minutes later, Furlong scored his first of the postseason to give Halifax its first lead of the series, sneaking in from the blueline and cashing in on a feed by Mathieu Cataford at the lip of the crease. Brady Shultz was instrumental in creating the fourth Mooseheads goal on the power play, first making a great play to keep the puck in at the line, then walking in from the point to wire a wrist shot for his fourth of the playoffs. Lawrence would cap off the visitor’s second period run with his tenth at 18:32, picking up a drop pass from L’Heureux and burying a low wrister. The Mooseheads held a 10-8 shots advantage for the period.
The third stanza would be a scoreless affair until the latter stages when, with the goaltender pulled at 15:21, Robidas drew the Remparts to within two with a superb solo effort from the slot. Doucet would close out the scoring and make it 6-3 with his 12th playoff tally into an empty net just minutes later. Both sides registered ten shots on net in the final period.
The scene now shifts to Halifax, where the two teams will lock horns in Game 3 on Tuesday night. The puck drops at 7pm ET/8pm AT for that one.
