Remparts work overtime en route to 2-1 series lead
James Malatesta’s second goal of the game and 12th of the postseason at the 4:25 mark of the fourth period propelled the Quebec Remparts to a 5-4 triumph over the Halifax Mooseheads in Game 3 of the 2023 Gilles-Courteau Trophy Final before over 10,000 fans at Scotiabank Center. With the win, the Remparts lead the best-of-seven championship series, two games to one.
Additional Remparts goals came from Justin Robidas, Pier-Olivier Roy and Daniel Agostino. Alexandre Doucet, Mathieu Cataford, Jordan Dumais and Josh Lawrence replied for the Mooseheads. William Rousseau made 22 saves in the victory while Mathis Rousseau made 32 saves in the loss.
The two clubs battled to a 2-2 draw after 20 minutes. Doucet first broke the scoreless deadlock on a Mooseheads power play at the 4:06 mark, redirecting a Josh Lawrence centering pass in the blue paint to bring the raucous home fans out of their seats. The Remparts would tie things up at 15:20 when Robidas stuffed a puck home over the left pad of Rousseau for his 11th of the playoffs. Roy would give the Remparts the lead just over 90 seconds later with his fifth postseason tally, tipping a shot from Bolduc at the side of the net following an unsuccessful clearing attempt by the Mooseheads. The home team would knot things up at 2-2 under a minute later when Cataford won a puck battle along the left side boards before firing a quick wrister from the faceoff dot. The Remparts held a 12-10 shots advantage in the opening period.
It would remain a deadlock after two periods of action, this time at 3-3. The Mooseheads, who earned an 8-6 edge in shots in the middle frame, retook the lead at the 1:56 mark. Dumais, the regular season MVP who was suiting up for the first time since Game 2 of the semifinals, outwaited Rousseau before slipping a shot five-hole for his fifth. Quebec would once again draw even with 3:42 remaining when Malatesta’s tip of a Robidas floater from long range handcuffed Rousseau and gave the Blue Jackets draftee his 11th of the postseason.
The trend would continue in the third where the Remparts enjoyed both a 16-7 advantage on the shot clock and in territorial play, but it was the Mooseheads that went to work right away in the period. Just 14 seconds had elapsed when Lawrence got a step on a defender, walked in alone and deposited a backhander past Rousseau for his 11th of the postseason. Again though, the Remparts fought back to even terms when Agostino buried a high wrist shot for his second of the postseason at 4:30. The 4-4 tie in regulation would set the stage for Malatesta’s heroics in overtime.
The two teams are back at it again on Wednesday night in the fourth game of the championship series. The puck drops for Game 4 at 7pm ET/8pm AT.
