Split Decision
Nicholas Roy’s second goal of the game at 10:27 of the second period held up as the winner as the Chicoutimi Sagueneens edged the Moncton Wildcats 3-2 in game two of the best of seven opening round playoff series at the Moncton Coliseum on Sunday night.
Moncton won the opening game of the series 4-2 on Thursday night and were hoping to carry that momentum into the second game of the series. However the Sagueneens had other ideas.
Special teams were the story of game as four of the five goals in the game came on the power play. Moncton was 2-7 with the man advantage while Chicoutimi went 2-2.
Roy opened the scoring at 5:49 of the first period as the Sagueneens enjoyed the extra attacker.
Ivan Barbashev tied it at 12:14 of the first period with his second power play goal of the series. Barbashev buried a centering pass from Alex Dubeau under the crossbar to make it 1-1 where the score remained after the opening 20 minutes.
Laurent Dauphin put Chicoutimi back on top at 8:46 tipping a loose puck home behind Alex Dubeau on the power play with assist going to Nicholas Roy and Alexandre Ranger.
Jacob Sweeney continued his power play magic for the Wildcats. After scoring 15 power play goals during the regular season Sweeney pounced on a Conor Garland pass in the slot and made no mistake tying the score at 2 at the 10:04 mark.
The Wildcat momentum was short lived because Nicholas Roy scored what proved to be the eventual game winner 23 seconds later to make it 3-2 to give the Sagueneens a split in the opening two games of the series.
Chicoutimi outshot Moncton 36-32 and Julio Billia proved by he is the reigning CHL goaltender of the month making timely saves in the second and third periods to keep the Sags ahead and give his team a chance at winning the game.
The series now shifts to Chicoutimi with game three set for Wednesday night from the Georges Vezina Arena. Game time 8:00 AST. Game four will be played Thursday April 2nd and game five goes Saturday April 4th.
