Moose trample Cats in game 1
The Halifax Mooseheads are a confident bunch these days but they may have even surprised themselves after whipping the Wildcats 7-3 to open up Round 2 of the QMJHL President Cup Playoffs on Friday night in Moncton.
“We played as a team today and that’s what we’ve got to do to win in the playoffs,” said a smiling Nikolaj Ehlers who led the Halifax attack with four goals and one assist.Ehlers, who leads the league by far in playoff scoring with 20 points, agrees that the lack of down time between the end of the Shawinigan series and Friday’s Game 1 against the Cats may have actually been beneficial to the Herd.
“Yeah of course, obviously it’s tough but it’s the playoffs and you want to play as long as you can so playing these games is amazing.”
The Mooseheads fell behind 1-0 early in the first period when Ivan Barbashev scored his first of two goals on the night just under three minutes into the contest much to the delight of the 4,283 in attendance at the Coliseum.
Halifax bounced right back by doing what they’ve done all postseason, scoring with the man advantage.
Danny Moynihan converted on the power play for the sixth time with Will Bower sitting in the box with a double-minor for a hit from behind on defenceman Sam Hunter.
Ehlers scored his first goal of the evening with 5:27 to go in the opening stanza with Philippe Gadoury grabbing an assist as Halifax took a 2-1 lead to the dressing room.
It was all Mooseheads the rest of the way as Ehlers scored three more times while Gadoury and Andrew Shewfelt also found the back of the net as the Herd coasted to the victory.
The Winnipeg Jets prized prospect thinks the team will need an even better effort on Saturday in order to come away with two straight road wins to open the series.
“We haven’t played our best yet and that’s what we’ve got to go out and do, you know they’re going to come out hard and we’ve just got to play harder.”
Ehlers was named the first star of the game, while Gadoury finished with four points and earned the second star. Barbashev took third star honours.
Eric Brassard played his usual calm and focused style and turned away 34 shots in the win. Wildcats starter Alex Dubeau was chased after Ehlers completed the hat trick just 32 seconds into the third period and was replaced by Jason Rioux who stopped all seven shots he faced.
Dom Argento, Jordan King, Sam LeBlanc (injured) were the Mooseheads scratches. Hunter is day to day with an upper body injury following the first period hit by Bower that sent the Halifax blueliner to the dressing room.
Game 2 of the series goes Saturday night at 7pm at the Moncton Coliseum before the scene shifts to Halifax for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at Scotiabank Centre.
