Photo Credit: Jonathan Roy/Halifax Mooseheads
The Halifax Mooseheads rebounded from a 5-1 defeat on Friday night to knot the QMJHL finals up at one win a piece heading back to Halifax with a 6-3 win on Saturday night.
The Herd overcame a two goal deficit early in the first period and rallied to steal one game in Quebec to take home-ice advantage back to the Maritimes.
The loss for the Remparts marks the first tally in that column in these playoffs, marking the end of a 13-game winning streak in the postseason.
Jordan Dumais missed his sixth consecutive contest with an undisclosed injury, leaving extra punch out of the lineup heading into game two.
Nothing seemed to go right for the Mooseheads. Until it did.
The Quebec Remparts stormed out of the gates with a strong pace, similar to the one they set in game one.
Zachary Bolduc scored on the powerplay to give them a lead just eight minutes in and followed it up with a goal from James Malatesta just five minutes later.
In what could have been a simple “here we go again” moment for the Mooseheads, they once again demonstrated why they are here at this moment.
Having trailed in these playoffs on three different occasions, they showed that “bend-but-don’t-break” mentality that got them to this point in the first place.
Alexandre Doucet got the ball rolling with a late powerplay goal to end the first period, marking a potential shift in momentum heading into the intermission.
The Mooseheads came out of the break looking like a brand new team, exhibiting a night and day feeling between their first period and the start of the second frame.
Zachary L’Heureux and Jake Furlong scored 1:53 apart to give the Mooseheads their first lead of the series, and you could almost feel the relief on the bench.
The goal marked Furlong’s first goal of the 2023 playoffs.
Brady Schultz capitalized on the powerplay just five minutes later as the Remparts uncharacteristically lackadaisical penalty kill allowed him to step to the top of the circle to rip home the eventual game winning goal.
Josh Lawrence added his league leading 28th point in the playoffs to put the game out of reach before Doucet scored the empty net goal in short order following Justin Robidas’ bid to get his team back into the game.
Doucet led the way with 4 points, two goals and two assists, while L’Heureux and Lawrence potted three points apiece.
The Remparts have been led by Justin Robidas and his three goals thus far, but will look for a contribution across the lineup as they lose home-ice advantage and the last change for games three and four.
The win came at a price for the Herd, losing David Moravec after a collision forced him to leave the contest and did not return.
The battle for the Gilles-Courteau Trophy continues Tuesday night as the series shifts back to Halifax at 7pm EST, with game four going Wednesday night.