The Glotov show drives Shawinigan to back to back wins!
After putting on one of their worst game of the season, the Shawinigan Cataractes managed to bounce back with two importants wins! They are now within 7 points of the last playoff spot earned by Chicoutimi. But to get those two wins, Daniel Renaud needed to have everyone’s grit. It all started from the 20 year old veteran, Vasily Glotov. The Russian magician scored 3 times and added 1 assist over the last two games! That spectacular performance helped Shawinigan beat Blainville 4-2 and Val D’Or 6-5 in overtime.
After the rain, the sunshine comes in!
It was a tough first period on sunday afternoon as the Armada was all over Mathieu Bellemare’s net. Fortunately, only one skater managed to beat Shawinigan’s goaltender. A complete
In the second, the Cataractes exploded with 3 unanswered goals. First, in the early moments of the period, Antoine Demers placed a wrist shot behind ex-Cataractes Mikhail Denisov to tie the game. Then, on the powerplay, Jan Drozg’s pass deflected off the Blainville defenceman to step over Denisov’s pad. But the best was yet to come! Less than a minute later, at top speed in Blainville’s zone, Vasily Glotov let a wrister go over Denisov’s shoulder to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Eventually, that goal would be the game winning goal.
The last period of play saw Leon Denny add one in an empty net juste before Samuel Leblanc puts a little bit of hope in the stands with a goal in the last minute. As the proverb says, it was too little too late!
For the Cataractes, Mathieu Bellemare was, once again, outstanding stopping 28 shots.
Final score : 4-2.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Glotov show!
With the Foreurs in town, Shawinigan players had the chance to prove to general manager Martin Mondou that they wanted to take a serious shot at making the playoffs. Val D’Or being only 8 points ahead with 27 games left, it was the perfect timing to rise to the occasion. Beside a slow start and mistakes in the neutral zone, Shawinigan gave the fans a spectacular show.
Down 1-0 early in the game, Daniel Renaud saw Vasily Glotov show what he is made of in this one! After a beautiful play by Olivier Desroches near the boards in Val D’Or’s zone, he received a perfect pass from the young defenceman and took advantage of time and space to beat Jonathan Lemieux stick side.
Then, in the second, when the Foreurs were up 3-1, Frédérik Théorêt scored on a Tommy Cardinal penalty to pull Shawinigan within one. 54 seconds later, the crowd was going wild when Vincent Senez completed a play initiated by Antoine Demers et Gabriel Denis.
But, the Foreurs had other things in mind and got back their 2 goal-lead in the early moments of the third period. You think that would seal the deal? No way! Shawinigan showed a lot of grit and intensity and bounced back, once again, with another 2 goal comeback. First, Antoine Demers jumped on a rebound and scored with a nice spinorama. Then, the star of the night tied the game 52 seconds later with an absolute beauty! The Russian magician wasn’t done yet and executed the greatest piece of action of the night. Late in the third, he got rid of an opponent in the neutral zone before completely outsmart the Foreurs’ defenceman. Then, his wrist shot got past the netminder… but not the crossbar! This close to the hat trick!
In overtime, both teams had scoring chances but the last one went Shawinigan’s side when Jérémy Manseau, who back checked big time just seconds before, set up Jan Drozg perfectly! The Slovenian let a backhand go to give the Cataractes the much needed win! Final score : 6-5.
Daniel Renaud and his players will now try to extend their winning streak to 3 when they will face Rimouski on Saturday afternoon.