LEWISTON – This time the three-goal deficit got larger, the Rimouski power play remained potent and the Lewiston Maineiacs, for the second year in a row, suffered a blowout loss in their final game of the season.
Sidney Crosby keyed the 5-1 win for the Oceanic with a goal and three assists, while linemates Dany Roussin and Marc-Antoine Pouliot also got into the action with five total points.
“Our goal was to win the series and that’s what we came out and did,” said Rimouski coach Doris Labonte. “We didn’t expect to do it in four games, but after three games, we knew it was possible. We did not play our best game, it was average, but it was enough tonight.”
The Maineiacs’ lone goal came in the first period and temporarily knotted the score at one when rookie Eric Castonguay lit the lamp with a blast from the left circle over Rimouski netminder Cedrick Desjardins right shoulder.
“If we want to be a good team, we have to be to this level,” said Maineiacs coach Clem Jodoin as he pointed toward the Rimouski locker room. “We are on the verge of that level, with the younger kids, and we have talent, but even if you are talented, it doesn’t mean you are going to get there. You have to develop the talent.”
The win also gives Rimouski a 32-game unbeaten streak, the longest ever in the Canadian Hockey League. The London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League set the record at the start of this season, going 29-0-2. Rimouski is now 30-0-2 since December 29.
Aside from Castonguay’s rifle, there were few high points for the Maineiacs, who watched their three 20-year-old players, Sheldon Wenzel, Bobby Gates and Nick Cowan, play in their final league games.
Meanwhile, on the ice, the Maineiacs had a hard time controlling the Rimouski transition, and after almost every Lewiston advance, the Oceanic broke back in the other direction with an odd-man rush.
“Our whole plan is to get the puck to the net,” said Crosby. “(Jaroslav) Halak is a great goaltender, so we needed to create traffic. We have a speedy team so we like to use that to our advantage.
Halak, also perhaps playing in his final game for Lewiston, as he is both a European player and will turn 20 next season, played his best game of the series despite the five goals against, facing 44 total shots, including 25 in the middle frame alone. Jonathan Bernier played the final 20 minutes for Lewiston, stopping nine shots.
“I feel bad for Jaroslav Halak,” said Jodoin. “I know he wanted to get at least one win in this series, and he played outstanding.”
On the other end of the ice, Desjardins was not spectacular, but he didn’t need to be, stopping 32 of the 33 shots he faced, many of which came from the outside.
“I gave him the game puck tonight,” said Labonte. “It’s his first series win in this league as a starting goaltender, but he has been a backup before. He made the saves when he needed to.”
The first part of the opening frame unfolded in stark contrast to the previous two games: There were no penalties.
On the first power play of the game, though, the Rimouski unit once again came to life. This time it was Crosby, shut out the night before, feeding Pouliot on the left point. Pouliot fired a slapped down low that ricocheted through three players and came to rest between — but not underneath — Halak. Roussin sprawled in from the right and poked it past the prone netminder for a 1-0 lead.
Lewiston knotted the score with an even-strength goal at 12:50 of the first when Castonguay blasted a slapper from the top of the left circle that beat Desjardins high to the blocker side.
Again with an extra attacker, this time with a 5-on-3, Rimouski once again established a one-goal lead on a shot from the left circle by Mario Scalzo. The feed came from behind the net — what Wayne Gretzky called his office — from Crosby.
“They are a talented team,” said Jodoin. “That’s a good, good, good team. The expression I always use, is mileage. They have more mileage, they are more experienced.”
The power plays were also a factor in the game, with Rimouski getting 10 chances and the Maineiacs just three.
The Oceanic opened it up in the second, with goals from Zbynek Hrdel, Roussin and Crosby to go ahead 5-1, all but one coming with an extra attacker.
The Maineiacs, after sweeping Shawinigan in the first round this season, lost four in a row to Rimouski, bringing their overall record this season to 36-34-8 including the playoffs.
“As an organization, we are still learning,” said Jodoin. “The first two years, they have been a cultural adventure, putting the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in the United States. The fans are just learning, even though the product has been here for two years. “
The future of the team’s older core is now in question, with queries swirling about Alexandre Picard, Jonathan Paiement and Jaroslav Halak and the American Hockey league, as well as the three 20-year-old players who will no longer play in the CHL. Add to that a two-team QMJHL expansion draft and the team that skated Wednesday night at the Colisee could be decidedly different next season.
“After the game, I told all of the guys, I told them Thank you all,'” said Jodoin. “I told them we are moving in the right direction. One day, we will be there.”
Rimouski moves on to play the lowest remaining seed in the playoffs in the semifinal round of the league playoffs.
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