Phoenix take back-to-back road wins
Following an end to their five-game win streak against the Victoriaville Tigres, 4-3, last Tuesday in overtime, the Sherbrooke Phoenix went on a twogame road swing this past weekend to play the Baie-comeau Drakkar and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Coming into their matchup with the Drakkar on Saturday night, the Birds had a record of 61-3-0 in their last 10 games earning 15-of-20 possible points.
Sherbrooke closed out the weekend successfully with two regulation wins by beating the Drakkar, 4-2, and the Sags, 43. Against the Drakkar, Sherbrooke fell behind to the home team, trailing 3-1 midway through the second period. After Nicolas Poulin scored midway through the first with a strong end-toend rush at 10:27, Baie-comeau scored three unanswered goals – two of which were shorthanded – on Brendan Cregan with offence from Xavier Bouchard and the special teams goals from Nathan Légaré and Gabriel Fortier.
However, Sherbrooke was dominant in their offensive play and tied up the game, 3-3, before the second intermission. Hugo Roy drew the game within a single goal at 16:57, with a score assisted by Yann-félix Lapointe and Quinn Hanna. Later on a power play, Phoenix rookie Samuel Poulin ripped a shot top shelf on Antoine Samuel to tie the game at 18:53.
In the third period, penalties ended up costing the Drakkar again, when Yaroslav Alexeyev scored the eventual game winner with another man-advantage. The Russian forward camped out at the side of the Baie-comeau net, finished off a brilliant no look pass from Roy for the eventual game winner.
Against the Drakkar, the Birds continued their outpouring of offence outshooting Baie-comeau 48-23 during the match, with Cregan making 20 stops.
The next day Sherbrooke fell behind early giving up the first two goals of the game against Chicoutimi. However, the Phoenix remained composed and battled back scoring four straight goals – three of which came in the final period – for their second straight road victory of the weekend. Evan Mackinnon lead the way on offence with two goals in the 4-2 win. Marek Zachar chipped in with a power-play goal and Benjamin Tardif scored as well.
Against the Sags, Sherbrooke was 1-of5 on the power play and 3-for-3 killing penalties. Evan Fitzpatrick made stops on 28-of-30 shots while his opponent Alexis Shank stopped 22-of-26.
Up next, the Birds (14-9-5-2) will host the No.1 ranked Blainville-boisbriand Armada (19-5-2-0) tonight at the Palais des Sports. The last time the two teams played, the Armada took a 5-3 victory in the Palais des Sports on November 3rd.