The Halifax Mooseheads have knotted up their QMJHL Final series with the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at two games apiece following a 5-1 clobbering at home tonight.
Benoit-Olivier Groulx got the Mooseheads the early lead when he scored just 3:43 into the game. In a game that Halifax needed, this was a great way to get things going for the Mooseheads.
The Huskies tied things midway through the first frame when Peter Abbandonato scored on the power play. That would be the only time Rouyn-Noranda would beat Halifax goaltender Alexis Gravel.
Halifax took control of the game from there, scoring at 7:54 of the second (Samuel Asselin), 16:43 of the second (Jocktan Chainey), 17:12 of the third (Arnaud Durandeau) and 18:30 on the power play (Maxim Trepanier). Durandeau had three points in the game (one goal and two assists) and Trepanier had a goal and two assists. Groulx also registered the goal and an assist as well.
Durandeau was also named the game’s first star while Trepanier was the third. Second star was none other than Chainey, who had the goal for a point, was a plus-2 plus/minus and had four shots on goal (one of which was considered a dangerous chance – likely the goal – by the QMJHL statisticians).
On the power play, Rouyn-Noranda was 1-for-5 while the Mooseheads were 1-for-4. In goal, Gravel let in only one shot of 30 faced, making 29 saves. For the Huskies, Samuel Harvey stopped 32 of 37 Halifax shots faced in taking the loss.
Game five of this series will shift back to Rouyn-Noranda on Thursday, May 9 at 7 PM. The series is tied at two games each.