Mathieu Poitras makes 55 saves as Rouyn-Noranda takes a 1-0 series lead.
ROUYN-NORANDA, Quebec – Round one went to the dogs.
Rouyn-Noranda answered Lewiston’s third-period equalizer with three straight goals and Mathieu Poitras made 55 saves to lead the Huskies to a 4-1 win in Game 1 of the first round playoff series at Dave Keon Arena Friday.
“I think we played well the last 50 minutes of the game,” Maineiacs coach Mario Durocher said. “Poitras was the difference, for sure. But really, there were some questionable calls down the stretch.”
Dominic Deblois, Eric Beaudin, Guillaume Desbiens and Peter Precuil all scored for Rouyn-Noranda, while Karl Fournier tallied the lone goal for the Maineiacs, who had the upper hand for most of the night but could not solve the over-age netminder.
In the third, down just 1-0, the Maineiacs got the goal they needed at 4:28 when Fournier circled in from the left boards and banged home a rebound after Sheldon Wenzel managed to keep the puck in from the right circle.
Special teams, however, let the Maineiacs down from there.
At 8:44, Desbiens cashed in on a defensive lapse when he swept around from behind the net and slipped a shot between Lewiston netminder Matt Davis’ pads with Richard Stehlik in the box for interference.
Three minutes later, Beaudin notched a soft goal from the left circle when his floater beat Davis, who seemed to be paying attention to traffic in front.
The Huskies finished the scoring on a Deblois’ breakaway while shorthanded with 5:11 left.
The Huskies were flying early in the first.
Six minutes and 15 seconds in, Remy Tremblay set up Precuil at the left post with a pass from the right circle to put the home team ahead 1-0.
After the halfway mark, Lewiston charged back.
Outshot 10-3 in the first 12 minutes, the Maineiacs launched a barrage of shots at Poitras and finished the period ahead in the shot count, 14-12.
Their best chance came with about six minutes to play in the period when Alexandre Picard had a breakaway, but his shot to the short side hit Poitras in the chest.
In the second, neither team managed a goal.
Davis, while facing just seven shots in the middle frame, stopped two great scoring opportunities down low, one a partial breakaway by Alexandre Bolduc and the other a tip-in attempt at the left post on a two-on-one.
“He played well, too,” Durocher said of his goaltender. “We all played well for the most part.”
On the other end, Poitras was stellar for the Huskies, turning away 18 shots in the second, including several down low. On one sequence, Pierre-Luc Faubert had a wide open net and Poitras managed to get the butt-end of his stick in the way, just as the puck was about to cross the line.
“All we can do (Saturday) is keep finishing our checks,” Durocher said. “We played well and need to keep doing it. We cannot afford to stop paying the price in front of the net, either.”
The same two teams will square off again tonight in the second game of their best of seven series.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.