(Halifax) James Malatesta completed a brace at 4:25 in overtime and the Quebec Remparts beat the Halifax Mooseheads 5-4 on Tuesday to take a 2-1 lead in the QMJHL final.
Malatesta grabbed his own backhand rebound, scoring his 12e series goal.
Justin Robidas, Pier-Olivier Roy and Daniel Agostino scored the other goals for the Remparts, who were able to count on 22 saves from William Rousseau.
His vis-à-vis Mathis Rousseau blocked 32 shots.
Alexandre Doucet, Josh Lawrence, Jordan Dumais and Mathieu Cataford fought back for the Mooseheads.
Doucet gave the Mooseheads a 1-0 lead at 4:06 into the first period. Prowling at the right mouth, he redirected a perfect pass from Lawrence, who earned a fourth point in two games.
It was for Doucet a 13e net in the current series. He led the league with 58 regular season goals.
Robidas created the deadlock at 15:10 in the first round, taking advantage of his own rebound.
At the midget level, Doucet and Robidas both shone with the Cantonniers de Magog.
Only 1:36 later, Zachary Bolduc knocked down a hazardous pass from Brady Schultz to Roy, who scored his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Halifax replied less than a minute later, leveling the score 2-2. The forecheck allowed Cataford to unleash a good shot, which hit the short end.
Robidas was picked in the fifth round by the Hurricanes in 2021; Bolduc was drafted 17e in total the same year, by the Blues.
Dumais put the Mooseheads in control at 1:56 in the middle period. From the edge of the net, he lodged the puck between the pads of Rousseau following beautiful feints, after a long pass from Braeden MacPhee.
Malatesta tied the odds 3-3 at 16:18 in the third period, deflecting a shot off Robidas’ blue line.
Early in the third period, Lawrence and Agostino scored 4:16 apart, making it 4-4.
The visitors, however, would spoil the evening at the Scotiabank Centre, where 10,002 supporters had gathered.
Game four is Wednesday night, again in Halifax.
The series will continue Friday evening at the Videotron Center, where the first two clashes drew a total of 36,518 people.