FINAL: Val-d’Or 4, Saint John 5 (SO)
SAINT JOHN – Stanislav Galiev made sure everyone at
Harbour Station knew he was back.
The skilled Russian forward was a dominant force on the
ice, scoring a goal and throwing six shots on net. Even with Galiev in beast
mode, the Sea Dogs needed a shootout to defeat the Val-d’Or 5-4 in Quebec
Major Junior Hockey League action on Friday night.
Jason Cameron, McKenzie Brown and Stephen Anderson also
scored for Saint John. The Sea Dogs were only able to dress 10 forwards and
five defensemen for the contest.
Mathieu Corbeil, making his regular season debut with the
Sea Dogs, made 31 saves on the night.
Benjamin Casavant had a big night for Val-d’Or, recording
two goals and an assist. Artem Sergeev and Nicolas Larocque-Marcoux also netted
markers in the loss.
Goaltender Francois Tremblay made 24 saves.
In the first, Pierre Durepos headed to the penalty box at
2:05 to give the Foreurs an early power play opportunity. On the man advantage,
a Guillaume Gelinas shot was deflected in by Casavant to give the
Foreurs a 1-0 lead.
At 11:03, Anderson came hard down the wing and
snapped a backhand shot on goal, sneaking past the pad of Tremblay to
tie it up at 1-1.
The Sea Dogs took the lead at 15:50 as Scott Oke stood
behind the goal line and threaded a pass to Galiev in front. The
Washington Capitals prospect fired the puck past Tremblay to give the Dogs a
2-1 edge.
The Foreurs would even it up again though at 17:43 as Casavant netted his second of the match in the crease area. The goal went under
a review but it would stand.
Shots were 9-8 Saint John in the first.
In the second, the Sea Dogs would begin to take over.
At 6:06, Tremblay made the initial stop but let a big
rebound go. Brown grabbed the puck and skated around the goaltender,
sliding the puck into the cage to give the Sea Dogs a 3-2 lead. Brown had hit
the outside of the post just a few moments before notching his first QMJHL
goal.
Just over two minutes later at 8:43 on a man advantage,
Jason Cameron snipped the disc past the Val-d’Or ‘tender from the rim of the
faceoff circle. That would give Saint John a 4-2 lead after two periods.
Saint John had plenty of chances later on in the frame,
including several dangerous opportunities from Galiev, but were unable to convert. Shots were 16-9 Saint
John in the middle stanza.
The Foreurs got within one at 3:26 of the third on a man
advantage. Sergeev let a slapper go from just inside the line that beat Corbeil up
high to make it a 4-3 contest.
Corbeil made some great saves throughout the third and
was kept quite busy. Shots were 15-2 in favour of Val-d’Or in the final frame
of regulation.
The Foreurs stunned the Harbour Station faithful with 2.3
seconds remaining on the clock. With the Foreurs net empty and the extra
attacker on, Michael Beaudry fed Marcoux in front who banged the puck in to tie
the match up at 4-4.
After overtime solved nothing, the game headed to a
shootout. In the breakaway contest, both goaltenders were solid. Aidan Kelly
would score the only goal of the event in the fourth round to give Saint John a
5-4 victory.
The Sea Dogs went 1-for-2 on the power play while Val-d’Or
went 2-for-3.
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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