Wildcats Beat Val d’Or in Shootout
On paper it was suppose to be an easy two points for the Moncton Wildcats as they prepared for Val d’Or. Moncton’s top line of Ivan Barbashev , Vladimir Tkachev and Chris Lalonde were hot off a ten point explosion Friday Night against Rouyn Noranda. Val d’Or were 2-6 coming into the game including a 3-1 loss to Charlottetown on Friday. But someome forgot to send the script to the Foreurs as the gave the Moncton Wildcats everything they could handle forcing the home squad to their first shoot out of the year before dropping a 4-3 decision to Moncton in front of 3859 fans at the Coliseum.
Moncton looking for their third win in a row got off to a hot start as Chris Lalonde notched his third powerplay goal in two games at the 6:06 mark of the first to give Moncton a 1-0 lead with assists going to Tkachev and Dominic Talla Tassi.
Ivan Barbachev scored late in the first with a laser shot that beat Keven Bouchard at 18:05 with Lalonde and Tkachev getting assists making it 2-0 Cats heading into the second period.
The Foreurs came out strong in the second period and were rewarded at 6:50 when Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored to cut the lead to 2-1. Then as Moncton killed off an extra minor given to Mathieu Olivier in his fight with Steven Anderson, Jan Mandatt tied it at 16:24 mark.
Val d’Or continued to press in the early part of the third period but the Wild Cats responded as Ivan Barbashev scored his 6th of the year from Lalonde and Tkachev at 9:36 and the Cats looked like they had momentum with the 3-2 lead. That wasn’t the case.
Val d’or tied it as Anthony Richard was the recipient of a huge rebound off the pads of Jason Rioux after he stopped a Kubel blast from the wing and just like that it was 3-3 at 13:09.
Overtime solved nothing and the two teams went to their first shoot out of the season. Moncton elected to shoot first and after Tkachev hit the goal post and Kubel getting stopped it was Conor Garland giving Moncton the advantage with a five hole goal that beat Bouchard. Richard made no mistake on his attempt so the final shooters were left to settle the score and Ivan Barbashev didn’t disappoint snapping a wrister to the glove side of Bouchard to put the Cats up by one. Steven Anderson was stopped by a huge trapper save by Jason Rioux to preserve the win for Moncton 4-3 in front of 3859 fans.
Jason Rioux picked up his second win of the season as the Cats won their third in a row while Keven Bouchard looked shakey all night long taking his third loss of the season.
Moncton outshot the Foreurs 34-33.
Moncton now hits the road for a extended Quebec road trip on Wednesday October 8th they take on Gatineau then Friday the ten Rouyn-Noranda then Saturday afternoon Val D’or plays host to the Wildcats and all the action can be hear on CITA-FM with Roger White
