It took the Halifax Mooseheads two games, but they figured out a way to bust through the Victoriaville Tigres’ trap.
The Tigres won Games 3 and 4 of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League best-of-seven first-round series by scores of 3-2 and 3-1 by playing a stingy 1-2-2 system, jamming the neutral zone with as many bodies as they could fit.
But the Mooseheads overwhelmed the Tigres on Saturday, grabbing a 3-2 series lead with a 7-2 thumping.
“We watched some video on Friday, saw how they were playing and adjusted to it,” Mooseheads forward Colby Pridham said. “We tried to get more movement in the neutral zone, get more pucks in deep, and started our attack on the forecheck. We got more shots on net and most of all, we were ready to play.”
The Tigres, who rebounded at home after being outscored 17-3 in Games 1 and 2 at the Metro Centre, will no doubt bring a similar trap back to Halifax for Game 6 tonight at 7 p.m.
The Mooseheads headed to Victoriaville hoping for a sweep, but now they just want finish it without a Game 7, which is tomorrow, if necessary, at the Metro Centre. They hope to do that by taking it to Tigres 17-year-old goaltender Kevin Poulin — hot and cold all series — from the opening faceoff.
“We’ve got the momentum back; we want to keep it now,” Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell said. “We want to set the tempo of the game right away in the first period.”
