The Wildcats now lead the best of seven play-off series 2 games to one with game four slated for Thursday night at 7:00 (EST) in Chicoutimi.

 

The Sagueneens lead 1-0 after one period of play when Janne Puhakka scored his second of the series on the power play at 17:05 with assists going to Laurent Dauphin and Gabriel Boudreau.

 

Zach Malatesta saved his best game of this young career for when the Wildcats needed it most. He was tough in his own zone defensively and continuously pressing in the offensive zone and he was rewarded with a huge goal at 10:03 of the second period to tie the game at one. Matt Klebanskyj picked up the lone assist on the goal.

 

Alex Dubeau was huge in goal for the Moncton Wildcats stopping 29 of 30 shots he face including 16 in the opening period.

 Moncton outshot Chicoutimi 17-7 in the second period and put tremendous pressure on Julio Billia who was solid between the pipes again for the Sags.

 

The third period was a rough and tumble affair with lots of penalties and and good scoring period opportunities by both teams to break the deadlock. 

 

Johnson’s heroics at 16:56 came when Taylor Burke won a face-off and centered the puck to Johnson and he floated a wrist shot over the blocker of Billia to give the Cats the slim lead.

 

Ivan Barbashev sealed the victory with his third of the series at 19:53 with an empty net goal on the power play to make it 3-1.

 

Moncton were 1-8 on the power play while Chicoutimi went 1-6 with the extra attacker.

 

The Wildcats and Sagueneens will square off in game four on Thursday night (7:00 pm EST) with game five of the series set for Saturday in Chicoutimi. (2 pm EST)