Tristan Luneau had three points and the Gatineau Olympiques defeated the St John Sea Dogs 5-1 on Friday to win the first-round series in five games and advance to the quarter-finals of the QMJHL playoffs.
The Olympiques will face in the next round the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, who eliminated the Shawinigan Cataractes.
Luneau scored in addition to collecting two assists. He made it 2-0 by hitting the target on a pass from shorthanded Montreal Canadiens prospect Riley Kidney 2:12 into the second.
Limited to one assist, a quiet night by his standards, Kidney has 11 points since the start of the playoffs. He had at least one point in each of the series’ five games after finishing the regular season with a 28-game point streak.
Zachary Dean and Olympiques captain Olivier Nadeau both had a goal and an assist. Vincent Maisonneuve, Cam MacDonald and Samuel Savoie scored the other goals for the Olympiques, which advanced to the second round for a third consecutive season.
Eriks Mateiko was the Sea Dogs’ lone scorer.
Maisonneuve opened the scoring with the only goal in the first period. Six minutes after seeing Luneau double the lead early in the second, Mateiko cut the lead in half for St John.
MacDonald put Gatineau back two goals less than a minute later with his third goal of the series and Nadeau followed with his fourth moments later. Savoie added some in the top of the third and Dean completed the scoring with his sixth goal of the series in an empty net.
Franceso Lapenna stopped 30 shots in front of the Olympiques net.
At the other end of the rink, Ventsislav Shingarov was bombarded with 48 shots. He made 43 saves.
Huskies eliminate defending champions
The Rouyn-Noranda Huskies joined the Olympiques in the quarterfinals by eliminating the Shawinigan Cataractes in five games.
The Huskies put the finishing touches with a 5-3 win Friday night.
The Cataractes suffer first-round elimination a year after winning the first President’s Cup in the team’s long history.
Samuel Rousseau, Daniil Bourash, Louis-Philippe Fontaine, Dyllan Gill and Bill Zonnon scored for the Voltigeurs. Thomas Couture stopped 30 shots in front of the Voltigeurs net.
Leo Braillard, Félix Lacerte (with his fifth in the series) and Angus Booth scored in the loss.
The Voltigeurs win the battle for 122
Manix Landry scored two goals and Riley Mercer made 34 saves as the Drummondville Voltigeurs beat the Victoriaville Tigres 4-2.
With this win, Drummondville eliminates its old rivals from Centre-du-Québec. In the quarter-finals, the Voltigeurs will face the Sherbrooke Phoenix, who swept their series against the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada.
Nino Tomov opened the scoring early in the first period with his second of the playoffs. Only 82 seconds later, Maxime Pellerin tied the game on a power play. Raphaël Blouin gave the Tigers the lead at the end of the second period.
The Voltigeurs took the upper hand late in the second period. Landry found the net for the first time in the playoffs to bring both teams back to square one.
Landry returned to the charge at the very start of the third and Sam Olivier completed the scoring in an empty net. In the loss, Nathan Darveau stopped 19 of 22 shots he faced.
The Océanic completes the work in Chicoutimi
Luka Verreault scored the winning goal at 13:28 of the second period and the Rimouski Océanic surprised the Chicoutimi Saguenéens 4 to 2 at the Center Georges-Vézina.
The Sags, favorites by a single point in the standings, are shown the exit door by the representatives of Bas-du-Fleuve.
Leading 3 to 1 in the series, the Océanic was quick to strike. Jacob Mathieu opened the scoring after less than five minutes to put his team ahead. Before the end of the engagement, Alexander Gaudio doubled his lead. William Dumoulin picked up his second assist on the streak.
During a massive attack at the start of the second, Emmanuel Vermette closed the gap by scoring his second of the playoffs. Verreault, however, gave the Rimouskiers a two-goal lead to give the lead for good to his team.
Peteris Bulans scored the other goal for the Sags, while Mathis Gauthier scored the other goal for the Océanic. Patrik Hamrla made 23 saves in the win, while Charles-Antoine Lavalée stopped 22 of 26 shots he faced.
Only one series still active
The Moncton Wildcats pushed the Baie-Comeau Drakkar to the brink by winning 3-2 at the Henry-Leonard Center in Baie-Comeau.
Anthony Hamel played the heroes a little less than five minutes after the start of the overtime period. The prospect at the next amateur auction Étienne Morin picked up an assist on the streak, his third of the game.
Maxim Barbashev and Thomas Auger completed the scoring.
Both goalkeepers were solid in the game. Olivier Ciarlo of the Drakkar finished the match with 35 saves, against 34 for his vis-à-vis Jacob Steinman.
The logic seems respected so far, as the Wildcats (35-29-4) finished third in the East, against the sixth for the Drakkar (30-32-6).
Moncton takes a lead three games to two in what happens to be the only first-round series that isn’t over as a result of Friday night’s action.
Several teams are waiting for the conclusion of this series to know their opponent in the second round.