The Baie-Comeau Drakkar won the opening set against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Saturday afternoon when they slipped away with a narrow 5-4 win over the Henry-Leonard Center ice.
• Read also: A first Armada-Drakkar confrontation
Involved in the first duel of a doubleheader, the two teams fought a fierce battle, which finally turned in favor of the Nord-Côtiers.
Inspired in attack by the double of veteran Xavier Fortin (he added an assist to his record), the locals have, at the same time, signed a third win in their last four outings to climb to the 16th and last place accessible for the playoffs playoffs.
It didn’t take long for the Drakkar to open the scoring when defender Marc-Antoine Mercier hit the target in the second minute of play. The visitors responded quickly, 28 seconds later, before forging a 3 lead -1 at the start of the second third.
Despite the setback, the crew found a way to come back with an unanswered three-goal rush, including the first of a career in the QMJHL from rookie Andrew Doucet.
End of game
The Armada skaters reignited the debate with four everywhere thanks to Mikaël Denis’ second goal of the game, but Xavier Fortin (first star of the game) then played the heroes with the winning goal scored in the middle of the third period.
The black jerseys tried everything down the stretch and even benefited from a power play, but without success. Inspired by key saves by goalkeeper Olivier Adam, the Baie-Comois held on.
“It was a tight game that surely has more fans. Of course there were ups and downs, but the players came back strong when they trailed 3-1 and that was a highlight of the game,” admitted pilot Jean- Francois Gregoire.
Even if the decision-making was not always on point in his camp, the head coach appreciated the overall effort of his troop. “There are players who had less energy than others, but we collected the two points and we will take the victory,” added the leader who had good words for defender Marc- Antoine Mercier.
In short
Captain Jacob Gaucher, with his 28th goal of the campaign, completed the scoring for the winners…Alexis Brisson and Kieran Craig were the other scorers in the losing clan…The two teams meet again on Sunday afternoon , for game number 2 of this short series.