Titan extends winning streak to four with 5-1 win over Victoriaville
The Acadie-Bathurst continued their recent hot streak Friday night at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre, downing the Victoriaville Tigres five-to-one and completing the season-series sweep.
Jeffrey Viel opened the scoring with 15 seconds remaining in the first period while the Titan were on a four-on-three power play for his 27th of the year. The initial shot taken by Antoine Morand was tipped in front and redirected past Victoriaville goaltender James Povall to make it 1-0 at the end of 20 minutes. Jordan Maher was also credited with an assist.
The second period saw the Titan open the flood gates, registering three more goals to take a four-to-nothing lead. Daniil Miromanov notched his tenth of the season off a pass from Zachary Malatesta at the 3:22 mark with Noah Dobson picking up an assist on the play to make it 2-0 Titan. Viel would net his second of the game and 28th of the season with 4:22 remaining in the second period with Malatesta and Christophe Boivin assisting to give the Titan a three-goal lead, and with 51 seconds remaining in the period, Malatesta would get his name into the goal column, tipping home his sixth of the season from Dawson Theede and Samuel L’Italien.
Vladimir Kuznetsov scored four minutes into the third period to make it a five-goal lead for the Titan. His 14th of the season was assisted by Boivin and Morand. Anthony Dumont-Bouchard’s shutout would last until the later half of the third period, when with 6:30 remaining in the game, Antoine Lessard would get the Tigres on the board. The lone marker for the visitors came too late to surmount to any sort of comeback, and as time ran out, the Titan secured their fourth victory in a row by a five-to-one score.
Dumont-Bouchard got the start for the Titan and stopped all but one of the 28 shots he faced to see his record improve to 11-5 on the year. For Victoriaville, Povall made the start, but was pulled after allowing five goals on 24 shots in 43:56 of play. Tristan Côté-Cazenave stopped all nine shots he faced in 16:04 of relief. The loss drops Povall’s record to 14-12 this season.
QUICK HITS
Noah Dobson and Zachary Malatesta have quickly formed an outstanding defensive duo since being paired together following Malatesta’s acquisition on December 18th. Tonight, the duo combined for four points and a plus-four rating to go with two solid hits.
Speaking of Dobson, his plus-21 rating now has him tied for ninth in the league and stretches his lead amongst first-year players in the category to a margin of four. Halifax’ Nico Hischier is currently second with a plus-17 rating.
Christophe Boivin played in his 231st career QMJHL and Titan game and recorded two assists. On the Titan’s All-Time list, Boivin currently sits eighth in goals (86), 11th in assists (99), eighth in points (186) and now tied for seventh in games played (231).
THE CHASE THE ACE CONTINUES NEXT SATURDAY
Robert Gaudet was the latest contestant in the Titan Foundation’s Chase the Ace contest and took home a guaranteed $1,218 for having his number selected. With a chance to win an additional $17,783, Robert drew the King of Clubs, meaning that the game continues with 42 cards remaining in the deck. The Titan Foundation is estimating a jackpot of $18,500 for the Saturday, January 21st home game against the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Tickets are on sale at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre box office and can also be purchased by phone at 549-3200 (local), 1-877-549-3200 (toll free) or online at admission.com.
Written by Bryan Willett
