2018-10-21

Sunday’s meeting in Drummondville was not for the faint of heart as the Mooseheads went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the QMJHL. Justin Barron played the role of hero in this one as he scored the overtime winner to hand Halifax a 4-3 victory, improving the Mooseheads’ record to an impressive 11-3.

BOX SCORE

The Moose were drastically out-shot in the game 47-23 but the stellar play of Alex Gravel and goals from Samuel Asselin, Raphael Lavoie and Arnaud Durandeau had the visitors in front 3-0 going into the final 20 minutes of regulation and seemingly in control. The Voltigeurs did not roll over in front of their fans at the Marcel Dionne Centre and had the building buzzing with three quick goals in a 2:21 span of the third period to tie the game 3-3.

Gravel out-played his counterpart Olivier Rodrigue in a battle of high-end QMJHL draft picks. The Mooseheads netminder finished with 44 stops while Rodrigue allowed four goals on 23 shots.

The game was chippy throughout and the officials were kept busy in handing out 20 infractions. Penalty trouble looked like it might sink the Mooseheads when Lavoie and Durandeau were each sent to the box with 1:18 left on the clock and the Volts were gifted a two-man advantage to close out regulation. Halifax survived long enough to force the extra period and then killed off the final 32 seconds to give the team a huge lift. Jordan Maher came flying into the offensive zone and carried the puck to the side boards where he dished off to Samuel Asselin who spotted Justin Barron alone in the slot. The big defenceman got a hard shot off and blew it by Rodrigue and Barron was immediately surrounded by a group of teammates jumping in celebration.

Halifax now has just one road game to go before the home opener on Saturday night against Cape Breton. The Mooseheads (11-3) couldn’t have asked for much better results to kick off the season. They’ve earned 22 out of a possible 28 points so far on the lengthy 15-game road trip and remain tied with Rouyn-Noranda (11-2) for the most points in the QMJHL.

Asselin opened the scoring in the game when he tipped in a Jake Ryczek point shot on the power play just 4:48 after the opening puck drop. The goal was Asselin’s eighth of the year and fifth on the power play as he has become a go-to player on the man advantage for Eric Veilleux’s squad. The score remained 1-0 Halifax until early in the second period when Raphael Lavoie and Arnaud Durandeau teamed up for a couple of dazzling goals. Durandeau chased down a loose puck in the neutral zone and broke in on a two-on-one. He threaded a perfect pass from right to left over to Lavoie who buried it for his 11th goal of the season. Lavoie returned the favour 3:42 later on the power play when he sent a pass out in front to Durandeau who sniped his seventh of the season to make it a 3-0 game.

The Voltigeurs came out fast and furious in the final period though and overwhelmed the Herd with pressure. Joe Veleno’s shot went off a skate and landed on the stick of Dawson Mercer and the Newfoundland native put his team on the board at the 6:11 mark of the third. Drummondville struck again just 14 seconds later as the Mercer goal was being announced. Alex Gravel kicked out the right pad for a save but the big rebound went right to Xavier Bernard and he quickly put it in the back of the net to really fire up the 2,263 fans in the building. The Volts weren’t done there as Gregor MacLeod got a step on Jake Ryczek at the blueline and got in behind the Mooseheads defence to send a low shot by Gravel on the blocker side to tie the match 3-3. Halifax survived the comeback and the penalty trouble and scored what might be their most enjoyable victory yet this season.

The penalty kill was excellent for the Herd, killing off all six Drummondville attempts on the man advantage while the Mooseheads went 2-6 themselves on the power play. The Moose penalty kill is a QMJHL best right now at 85.7 percent while the power play isn’t too shabby either, sitting seventh in the league at 22.8 percent.

The Mooseheads will next face the Screaming Eagles on Friday night in Cape Breton as part of rivalry week in the QMJHL. The teams will finish off the back-to-back meetings on Saturday night at 7pm in the home opener for the Moose at Scotiabank Centre. Tickets are on sale now for the General Public at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office, select Superstore outlets, TicketAtlantic.com, the Official Mooseheads Shop in Scotia Square Mall or by phone 902-451-1221.