Gatineau’s perfect weekend
Three straight wins for weary warriors
The red-hot Gatineau Olympiques suddenly have a whole new outlook on gruelling back-to-back-to-back weekends on the schedule.
Last week, the Olympiques were dreading the prospect of a road game Friday in Drummondville and an early-morning arrival back to Gatineau for home games Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
After winning three games on consecutive days for the first time since 2008 — which just happens to be the last year they won the President’s Cup — it doesn’t seem all that bad.
Playing their ninth period of hockey in less than 47 hours, the Olympiques struck for three straight goals in the third period, survived a late collapse due to penalty troubles, then celebrated a weekend well spent after Ottawa Senators draft pick Vincent Dunn clinched things on the fifth shootout attempt to dump the visiting Drummondville Voltigeurs Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 2,274 at the Robert Guertin Arena.
The matinee win came on the heels of victories at Drummondville Friday night and Saturday night at home, as the Olympiques handed first overall Blainville-Boisbriand their first loss of the season. The six points allowed Gatineau to jump four spots in the standings, from eighth overall to fourth, and kept them just three points back of the division lead.
“Six points … I tip my hat to these guys,” said Olympiques head coach Benoit Groulx. “Other than a few breakdowns, this was very positive.
“These same two teams split six goals in the first period Friday night and six more in the third here (Sunday). Who would have thought a team playing three-in-three could do that?” Dunn broke a 1-1 tie just 12 seconds into the third period and Jonathan Bourcier and Mickael Beauregard scored 93 seconds apart midway through the frame to stake the ‘Piques to a 4-1 lead that they carried until the final 4:30.
That’s when a string of minors led to power play goals by Matthew Boudens at 15:30, Jerome Verrier at 19:01 and Christophe Lalancette with 16.8 seconds to play.
“That stuff happens,” said Groulx. “The guys were disappointed. But we came right back from that.”
67’S FINISH TRIP TO NOWHERE
The Ottawa 67’s hope the next time they lay eyes on Scott Kosmachuk, he’ll be on Hockey Night in Canada skating with the Winnipeg Jets. The 67’s simply didn’t have an answer for the two-time 30-goal scorer with the Guelph Storm, who is setting a goal-a-game pace this season.
The third-round pick of the Jets last spring scored four times and assisted on a another as the Storm poured it on in the third against a road-weary and banged-up 67’s squad, who played the final leg of a lengthy three-game road weekend with just four defencemen.
The right winger now has 12 goals in 12 games and six in two games against the 67’s, who were coming off a 6-2 loss Saturday night in Erie.
“Tough weekend,” said 67’s head coach Chris Byrne. “We played a couple of the top teams in the West and were holding our own in each game early.”