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Proving that no lead in the QMJHL is safe the Moncton Wildcats stormed back from a 5-2 deficit to defeat the Baie Comeau Drakkar 6-5 in a shootout at the Centre Henry-Leonard in Baie Comeau on Thursday night.
Conor Garland lead the way for Moncton with a goal and two assists plus the only goal in the shootout to solidify his lead atop the Q scoring race.
The Wildcats lead 1-0 after one and trailed 4-2 after two periods of play.
Zack Malatesta opened the scoring at 12:41 of the first period with his seventh of the year to give the Cats an early lead.
The Drakkar struck for three quick goals in the second period to make it 3-1 with Vaclav Karabacek (15) at 5:24, Frederic Gamelin (11) at 9:58 and Jeremy Gregoire (14) at 11:00 to make it 3-1 Baie Comeau.
Jacob Sweeney cut the lead to 3-2 with his 14th power play of the season and 16th overall at 19:27 from Garland and Ivan Barbashev however with just eleven seconds left in the period Jasmin Boutet found the back of the net and restored the Drakkar two goal lead at 19:49 of the second making it 4-2.
Jason Rioux played a solid game for stopping 30 of 35 shots fired his way.
Phillippe Cadorette stopped 48 of the 53 shots fired towards him during the three plus periods of play.
Simon Desbiens increased the Drakkar lead to three goals with a wicked wrist shot that beat Rioux at 7:17 of the third period before the Moncton comeback began.
Conor Garland notched his 25th at 14:25 to make it 5-3, Matthew Klebanskyj chipped in his second of the year at 17:28 to narrow the lead to 5-4.
With time winding down and Jason Rioux on the bench for the extra attacker Dominic Talbot Tassi fired a shot from the blueline that beat Cadorette stick side at 19:18 of the period to send the game to overtime.
The overtime was filled with drama including great saves at both ends and a disallowed goal by Jacob Sweeney however the shootout was required to finish the game.
With an extra point up for grabs coach Darren Rumble opted to start Alex Dubeau in the shootout in place of Rioux.
After Garland scored on his attempt, Cameron Askew and Noah Zilbert were foiled by Cadorette. Dubeau was perfect stopping Vaclav Karabacek, Maxime St-Cyr and Luca Ciampini to preserve the come from behind win.
With Garland’s three points he now leads the league with 95 points seven more than Danick Martel of Blainville. Garland also has a eight game point streak in tact.
The Cats are now 4-6 this season when playing in Quebec and will face the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Friday night. Game time is 8 pm AST
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