VICTORIAVILLE, Que. – Make it three straight loses for
Team QMJHL at the Subway Super Series.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League all-stars had a
frustrating outing against Team Russia to open up the 2011 edition of the
series in Victoriaville on Monday night. The Q outplayed Russia for most of the
night, outshooting them 42-12. But despite the shot on goal domination, Russia
was opportunistic and skated away with a 2-0 victory.
Kirill Rasskazov and Bogdan Potekhin scored for Russia.
Netminder Sergey Kostenko stole the show, making some huge stops to earn the
shutout win.
PEI Rocket goaltender Maxime Lagace allowed two goals on
12 shots.
Saint John Sea Dogs centre Zack Phillips was a standout
for Team QMJHL. He led the team in shots with five and setup a number of
scoring opportunities. Defensemen Nathan Beaulieu got a lot of ice time as well
and finished with three shots. The other Sea Dog to play in the game, defenseman Pierre
Durepos, had one shot.
Halifax Mooseheads super rookie Nathan MacKinnon was
named player of the game for Team QMJHL. He was solid all night long and finished
with three shots on net.
Russia went 0-for-2 on the power play while Canada went
0-for-4.
After losing both games to Russia last year, Team QMJHL
will look to end their three-game slide on Wednesday in Quebec City.
MacKinnon had a decent scoring opportunity early in the first and was able to draw a penalty out of it. Team QMJHL had some opportunities on the ensuing man advantage but couldn’t connect.
Rob Faulds, rocking a pretty sweet moustache, interviewed
QMJHL head coach Yanick Jean during a break. Jean said that the absence of
Huberdeau definitely changed his game plan a bit.
Phillips nearly scored with just under nine minutes to
play in the frame. He was along the goal line and banked it off the Russian
netminder and then the post but it stayed out. Carl Gelinas was robbed on a
power play shortly after.
Rasskazov opened the scoring as Sportsnet was busy
showing some highlight at 16:43. 1-0.
Three minutes into the second, Phillips had another solid
opportunity as he walked around a few Russians in the slot before firing a hard
shot wide.
After some unreal back-and-forth action, the Russians struck
again at 6:58. 2-0 game.
Phillips nearly setup Nathan MacKinnon with 30 seconds left
but the phenom couldn’t get a good shot off.
Nathan Beaulieu had a great chance in the opening minute
of the third period but his blast missed the goal.
Fast-forward to late in the third with four minutes left,
Charles Hudon went to the backhand on a breakaway but was denied.
Team QMJHL pulled Lagace late in the game but
were unable to get on the board.
NOTES: Something you will rarely see - Patrick Roy being an
assistant coach… unlimited amount of breakaways for Team Russia in the first
period… Don Hay was in the house… some solid techno music in Victo to kick this
one off… RJ Broadhead was pretty good on play-by-play. The broadcast was a bit
dry at moments… Jonathan Huberdeau’s injury was discussed throughout the
broadcast. He was shown standing with crutches before the game.
NEXT GAME: Game Two of the series is Wednesday at 8pm in
Quebec City. The game can be seen live on Sportsnet.
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