Phœnix overwhelmed by visiting Huskies.
Written by: Dylan Konecny
Coming off of three straight victories the Phœnix (23-29-9) were looking to continue their win streak against the top ranked Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (48-9-5). After a 39 save performance against the Rimouski Océanic in his previous game, Evan Fitzpatrick certainly had his work cut out for him against the visiting Huskies.
Fitzpatrick answered the call in the first period facing shots early and often, leading to 13 saves in the opening frame. However, the Phœnix would strike first. Mid way through the period Daniel Audette opened the scoring. After pick pocketing Bruno-Carl Denis in front of the Huskies net, Audette quickly turned and caught goalie Samuel Harvey off guard with a quick wrister giving Sherbrooke a 1-0 lead at 9:17 with the unassisted goal.
The Huskies were quick to respond in the second period scoring 0:23 in. Jean-Christophe Beaudin fired a shot over the shoulder of Fitzpatrick, finishing off a tic-tac-toe play assisted Jeremy Lauzon and Timo Meier. The Huskies later took the lead in the second when Timo Meir beat Fitzpatrick with a backhand shot at 6:47. The Huskies continued to pepper Sherbrooke with shots adding another 19 in the second frame. Despite being largely outshot by a margin of 32-17, Fitzpatrick’s strong play kept the game close at a score of 2-1 after 40 minutes.
The Huskies took control of the game scoring five goals in the third period, after overwhelming Phœnix for the majority of the game. The first goal occurred just over five minutes into the period. After Mathieu Boucher was able to find the puck during a scramble in the crease at 5:43. Just under three minutes later Jeremy Lauzon fired a shot through traffic finding its way into the back of the net giving Rouyn-Noranda a 4-1 lead. Philipe Myers added a goal before Beaudin and Boucher added their second goals of the game on consecutive power plays to hand Sherbrooke a 7-1 loss.
Fitzpatrick made 43 saves in the game for the Phœnix. The Phœnix will look to get back on track next when they play Chicoutimi at home Wednesday March 9th at 7pm.
3 Stars:
1. Timo Meier (Rou)
2. Jeremy Lauzon (Rou)
3. Phillipe Myers (Rou)
