Mooseheads banking on recent history
Players looking to get out of another 2-0 hole in first-round series vs. Titan
Experience matters in the playoffs and the Halifax Mooseheads need to lean into theirs now more than ever.
There are 14 players who were part of last year's team that went all the way to the QMJHL championship series and who all learned a valuable lesson along the way about not panicking. In the semifinals against the Sherbrooke Phoenix, the Mooseheads lost the first two games on home ice and looked overwhelmed physically.
Almost everyone wrote them off at that point but the Mooseheads regrouped and won the next four games to advance to the final. Now that they find themselves in a 2-0 first-round hole against the Bathurst Titan, they're banking on history repeating itself, especially now that the series shifts to the road for the next two games.
"Like with all Maritime teams, you see that barn quite often so you know it well and we do usually have good success there," Mooseheads defenceman Dylan Mackinnon said. "I think our mindset's still in the right spot. It's two overtime losses so they were both close games and obviously they capitalized on our mistakes. We're looking forward to the next two."
Regular season results also provide a certain optimism.
The Mooseheads went 4-0 in Bathurst's K.C. Irving Centre during the regular season and posted a 22-10-2-0 overall road record.
Game 3 is on Tuesday and Game 4 is on Wednesday. If necessary, Game 5 will be at the Scotiabank Centre on Friday, Game 6 back in Bathurst on Sunday afternoon and Game 7 in Halifax on Tuesday, April 9.
OT HERO ROELENS GETTING IT DONE ALL OVER
Bathurst captain Milo Roelens isn't just getting the job done in overtime, he's been a menace in every area of the game.
The six-foot-six, 207-pound centre scored the gamewinner in Games 1 and 2 but is also a force on the forecheck and is giving Halifax’s best forwards fits with his suffocating coverage. The Titan try to get the Tampa Bay Lightning prospect on the ice whenever Mathieu Cataford and Markus Vidicek take a shift.
The Mooseheads split up the longtime linemates in Game 2 and Cataford managed his first goal of the series. But that is the only offence the two have generated so far in the series. Cataford (90 points) finished third in QMJHL regular season scoring and Vidicek (88 points) was fourth.
The Titan also seem to make sure either Igor Mburanamwe or Emile Perron are on the ice whenever the Mooseheads’ top lines come over the boards. The two steady defencemen are playing flawless defensive hockey so far in the series and are getting excellent support from Bathurst’s other blueliners – Cory Macgillivray, Harry Clements, Noah Laberge and Will Reynolds.
Halifax’s shooters can’t get to the slot with any regularity and there’s rarely a clear lane from the point, either.
As a group, the Titan aren’t giving the Mooseheads any room to breathe anwyhere, especially in the neutral zone and at their blueline.
A combination of airtight trapping, stand-up play by the defence on Halifax zone entries and back pressure from the Titan forwards is making it tough for the Mooseheads
to gain possession in the offensive end.
Halifax’s forwards rarely get to the middle ice in either zone and often end up surrounded on the wings when they’re trying to gain the blueline.
“We know their D pinch all the time and it’s a big part of their game plan,” Mackinnon said. “We know how they play and we know what we have to do is chip pucks in behind them and go to work. When we get away from that is when we get in a little bit of trouble. So we just have to stick to the game plan in the next one and not try to do too much. If we do that, I think we’ll have great success.”
And whenever the Titan team defence cracks a little bit, Antoine Keller is bailing them out with frustrating regularity.
The only two goals to get
past the 19-year-old goalie so far have been on redirected pucks right in front of the net. Braeden Macphee made a perfect tip for the Mooseheads’ only goal in Game 1 and Cataford’s Game 2 goal came off a pass that bounced in off a skate.
Keller is a draft pick of the Washington Capitals and is now carrying a 0.96 goals against average and .968 save percentage so far in the playoffs.
Going back to his final two starts against Halifax in the regular season, he’s only given up a total of three goals in his past four games.
It’s worth noting Halifax’s Mathis Rousseau is also crushing it.
He has a 1.92 GAA and .940 save percentage. Keller and Rousseau have been the first and second stars, respectively, in both games so far.