The MVP line is back together, and if Saturday is any indication, it’s not going to be split up any time soon.
The Halifax Mooseheads reassembled the line of Logan MacMillan, Jakub Voracek and Colby Pridham, and it powered the team to a convincing 7-2 road win, putting the Victoriaville Tigres on the brink of playoff elimination.
As their second initials indicate, they were the Mooseheads’ most valuable players, scoring four unanswered goals in the second period en route to the runaway victory.
The line combined for 61 points in just 12 playoff games last year, before being split up at the start of this season.
“We wondered if we’d be able to pick it up right back up, and it was kind of like riding a bike,” said Pridham, a 20-year-old assistant captain who had a hat trick and an assist.
“It was a lot of fun. We felt pretty good about how we played and hopefully we can continue it through the playoffs.”
All three are close friends off the ice. Pridham and MacMillan live with the same billet family and both are from Prince Edward Island — “we’re pretty much brothers,” Pridham said — while Voracek fits in well with his easy-going personality.
“We’re all on the same page, so that helps because we can trust each other,” Pridham said. “We can talk to each other on the bench and not get all worked up. The chemistry’s definitely there, there’s a lot of creativity, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Pridham said none of his teammates have started referring his trio as the MVP line, but broke into a smile and said, “I like it — we could use that,” when informed of the convenient fit.
It’s not the first line to have a big game in this series, and it might not be the last, but it will be together again tonight, when the Mooseheads host the Tigres for Game 6 at the Metro Centre at 7 p.m. with a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“They’ll obviously stay together in Game 6 and we’ll assess it from there,” Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell said. “We wanted to spread your players out, but it came to the point where we wanted to put them together because we know they have great chemistry. They definitely led the way.”
