Viel, Boivin lead the Titan in offensive storm against the Wildcats
Jeffrey Viel recorded his second hat trick of the season and Christophe Boivin had a four-point night as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan launched into an offensive festival against the Moncton Wildcats Saturday night in route to an 11 to 3 victory.
The Wildcats opened the scoring just over three minutes into the first period with Charles Taillon beating Titan starter Simon Boudreault-Belzile for his first of two on the night. Jordan Maher would tie the game with just under seven minutes to play in the period taking a pass from Jeffrey Viel and firing his 13th of the season into the open cage. Taillon would get his second of the game less than two minutes later to give the Wildcats the 2-1 lead. The Titan would answer back with three goals in a 2:07 span with Boivin notching his 26th of the season from Vladimir Kuznetsov and Antoine Morand to tie the game before Jeffrey Viel would score his 23rd of the season from Maher and Rodrigo Abols to make it 3-2 Titan and finally Kynan Berger would fire home his second of the season from Adam Holwell and Cole Rafuse for the eventual game-winning goal to make it 4-2 Titan after 20 minutes of play.
The Titan would continue to light the lamp in the second period, but not before Alexandre Renaud would make it a one-goal game. Mid-way through the middle frame, Olivier Desjardins would benefit from a steal of the puck and firing home his second of the season to make it a 5-3 game. Vladimir Kuznetsov would follow that up by scoring his 11th of the season with assists going to Boivin and Zach Malatesta. Boivin would add a second goal on the night and 27th on the year to make it 7-3 Titan with Malatesta and Morand assisting before Viel would score his second of the game and 24th of the season to make it an 8-3 game with Boivin and Maher assisting on the power play marker.
In the third period, the Titan would tack on three more goals with Vladimir Kuznetsov notching his second of the game and 12th of the season at the 2:39 mark before Dawson Theede would give the Titan their tenth goal of the game, scoring his 18th of the season with Noah Dobson picking up an assist. Jeffrey Viel would complete his hat trick with 4:28 left in the third period, recording his 25th of the season from Dobson and Abols, making it 11-3 Titan as the final buzzer sounded.
Boudreault-Belzile made the start for the Titan and stopped 22 of 25 shots to win his fifth-straight start in goal for the Titan, improving his record to 5-2 on the year. Dominik Tmej made the start for the Wildcats and allowed seven goals on 31 shots in 35:15 of play before giving way to Matthew Waite who allowed four goals on 17 shots in 24:45 of relief. The loss for Tmej drops his record to 4-6 this season.
The Wildcats were unsuccessful in their four power play opportunities while the Titan went one-for-two with the man advantage.
QUICK HITS
With his four-point performance, Christophe Boivin moved into a tie with Karl Fournier for eighth all-time in points recorded by a Titan player, and now sits one goal behind Jonathan Lessard for seventh all-time in goals scored by a Titan.
Jeffrey Viel recorded his second hat trick of the season and secures back-to-back 25 goal seasons for the Titan captain.
With their victory on Saturday night, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan recorded their 1,500th win as a franchise in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, dating back to their first season in 1969 as the Rosemont National. The team was founded in 1968 during the final season of the Metro Montreal Junior Hockey League prior to the league’s merging with the Quebec Junior Hockey League to form the QMJHL.
The three stars of the game saw Viel named the third star, Kuznetsov the second star and Boivin the first star.
SUNDAY JACKPOT ALERT!
The Chase the Ace jackpot is estimated to be over $15,000 on Sunday afternoon after the Queen of Spades was drawn Saturday Night. The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles are in town for a 3:00pm game, and in order to have your chance at this ever-growing jackpot, you need to be at the game! Tickets are on-sale at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre box office, by phone at 549-3200 (local) or 1-877-549-3200 (toll free) and online at admission.com
