Sea Dogs cruise to 2nd round: CHL playoffs
The top-ranked Saint John Sea Dogs swept their way into the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs Wednesday with a 4-0 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on a night where five teams were eliminated from the post-season.
Stanislav Galiev, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nathan Beaulieu had a goal and an assist each as the Sea Dogs completed the four-game sweep on the road. Zack Phillips added three assists and Michael Kirkpatrick also scored to round out the scoring.
Mathieu Corbeil earned the win in his first start of the playoffs while Andrew Hayes suffered the loss for Cape Breton.
The Sea Dogs will open the QMJHL quarter-finals at home, with Games 1 scheduled for April 8.
After a scoreless 20 minutes in Sydney, N.S., the Sea Dogs began to open things up in the second period, outshooting the Eagles 19-6.
Galiev opened the scoring at the five-minute mark of the second, backhanding a rebound past Hayes after the goalie was handcuffed by a Phillips shot. It was the fifth goal of the playoffs for Galiev, who has scored in all four post-season games.
Huberdeau scored the first short-handed at 9:44 of the second. Eric Gelinas attempted to send a high clearance around the glass in the defensive end only to have the puck take a wild bounce out front. Phillips collected the puck and sent Huberdeau on a breakaway, and he beat Hayes for his fifth goal of the playoffs.
Kirkpatrick scored another short-handed goal at 6:07 of the third period. The North Sydney, N.S., native chased down a puck at top speed, picked it up near the offensive blue-line, deked to his forehand and slipped it between the legs of Hayes.
Beaulieu rounded out the scoring at 9:11 of the third, finishing a pretty passing play with Galiev and Phillips.
QMJHL
Juniors 4, Mooseheads 2
At Halifax, Jeremy Gouchie had a goal and two assists as Montreal swept the Mooseheads.
Trevor Parkes had a goal and an assist while Louis Leblanc and Philippe Lefebvre also scored for the Juniors.
Konrad Abeltshauser and Gabriel Desjardins replied for Halifax.
Remparts 5, Foreurs 2
At Val-d'Or, Que., Jonathan Audy-Marchessault had a goal and four assists as Quebec eliminated the Foreurs.
Joel Champagne had a goal and two assists while Ryan Bourque, Frederick Roy and Tomas Filippi also scored for the Remparts.
Olivier Archambault and Alexandre Carrier scored for Val-d'Or, while Connor Gagnon had two assists.
Voltigeurs 5, Sagueneens 4
At Chicoutimi, Que., Ondrej Palat had two goals and an assist as Drummondville advanced to the next round with a win over the Sagueneens.
Pier-Antoine Dion, Charles-David Beaudoin and Marc-Olivier Vachon also scored for Drummondville, while Sean Couturier added two assists.
Nicolas Therrien had a goal and two assists for Chicoutimi. Alexandre Lavoie, Steve Lebel and Gabriel Vermette also scored and Charles Hudon had two assists.
Tigres 4, Titan 3 (OT)
At Victoriaville, Que., Yannick Dube scored in overtime as the Tigres completed a sweep of Acadie-Bathurst.
Phillip Danault, Carl-Antoine Delisle and Brandon Hynes also scored for the Tigres.
Sebastien Trudeau, Gabriel Levesque and Marc-Olivier Mimar scored for the Titan.
Cataractes 4, Rocket 2
At Charlottetown, Dave Labrecque, Peter Sakaris and Michael Bournival each had a goal and an assist as Shawinigan beat P.E.I.
Maximilien Le Sieur also scored for the Cataractes.
Ben Duffy and Philippe Paradis scored for the Rocket.
Shawinigan leads the series 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Charlottetown.
Maineiacs 4, Wildcats 3 (OT)
At Moncton, N.B., Etienne Brodeur scored his second goal of the game in overtime and added an assist as Lewiston beat the Wildcats.
Pierre-Olivier Morin and Kirill Kabanov each had a goal and two assists for Lewiston.
Allain Saulnier, Devon MacAusland and Alex Saulnier scored for Moncton, while Marek Hrivik assisted on all three Wildcat goals.
The Maineiacs lead the series 3-1. Game 5 is Friday in Lewiston, Maine.
Olympiques 4, Oceanic 3 (OT)
At Rimouski, Que., Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored in overtime to lead Gatineau over the Oceanic.
Hubert Labrie, Raphael Lafontaine and Philip-Michael Devos also scored for the Olympiques.
Felix Lefrancois, Jarrad Struthers and Petr Straka scored for Rimouski.
Gatineau leads the series 3-1 and hosts Game 5 on Friday.
OHL
Spitfires 7, Otters 4
Tom Kuhnhackl had two goals and two assists and the two-time defending champion Windsor Spitfires took control of their Ontario Hockey League opening-round playoff series with a 7-4 win over the Erie Otters on Wednesday.
The Spitfires took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final and can advance to the next round with a win Friday night in Windsor, Ont.
Alexander Khokhlachev had two goals and an assist while Jake Carrick had a goal and two assists for Windsor. Stephen Johnston and Zack Kassian added a goal and an assist each while Craig Duininck and Adrian Robertson each added two assists.
Tyler Hostetter, David Shields, Greg McKegg and Mike Cazzola replied for Erie. Shawn Szydlowski added two assists.
Whalers 6, Rangers 5
Scott Wedgewood made 52 saves and Stefan Noesen scored in overtime as the Plymouth Whalers edged the Kitchener Rangers 6-5 to pull ahead 3-1 in their Ontario Hockey League best-of-seven quarter-final.
Noesen also scored in regulation and had two assists on the night. RJ Mahalak, Jamie Devane, James Livingston and Austin Levi had the other goals for Whalers.
Top prospect Gabriel Landeskog, with two, Jamie Doornbosch, Andrew Crescenzi and Michael Catenacci each scored for the Rangers, with Brandon Maxwell stopping 37 shots.
Game 5 is Friday in Kitchener, Ont.
WHL
Raiders 6, Blades 3
Igor Revenko and Brandon Herrod each scored twice to lead the Prince Albert Raiders over the Saskatoon Blades 6-3 in Western Hockey League playoff action Wednesday.
Goalie Jamie Tucker made 37 saves as the Raiders cut their first-round quarter-final series deficit to 2-1.
The Raiders came out firing in their first playoff game at the Art Hauser Centre since 2007, outshooting the top-ranked Blades 22-6 in the first period and taking a 2-0 lead on goals by Revenko and Herrod.
Saskatoon tied the game in the second on goals by Josh Nicholls and Chris Collins, but defenceman Jordan Rowley restored the Raiders lead before the end of the second period.
After Justin Maylan increased the Raiders lead to 4-2 early in the third, Matej Stransky pulled the visitors within one again, but Herrod made it 5-3 before Revenko iced the game with an empty-net goal.
Former Raider Steven Stanford made 44 saves in the loss, while Tucker, back in goal after giving up seven goals on 21 shots in the first game, faced 40 shots in the Prince Albert net.
Ice 5, Warriors 0
The Western Hockey League playoff series between the Moose Jaw Warriors and Kootenay Ice has been consistent -- even if the two teams involved have been anything but.
Nathan Lieuwen made 25 saves as the Ice beat the Warriors 5-0 Wednesday to tie their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal 2-2. Game 5 is Friday in Cranbrook, B.C.
"We just kind of got complacent," said Warriors captain Spencer Edwards. "We came out and weren't play that bad, but we weren't as sharp or had as much jump as [Tuesday] night. We did the same thing in Game 2. We were hoping that we would learn from that game, but this is another little bit of a setback."
After the Warriors won Game 1 4-0, they fell behind 3-0 on an early short-handed goal in the second period in Game 2 before losing 5-2 to the Ice. Tuesday the Warriors won Game 3 4-0.
Rockets 4, Cougars 2
Shane McColgan scored twice and the Kelowna Rockets finished a sweep of their first-round Western Hockey League playoff series with a 4-2 win over the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday.
Zak Stebner and Damon Severson also scored as the Rockets won the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final 4-0.
Sena Acolaste and Alex Forsberg replied for Prince George.
Adam Brown made 33 saves for Kelowna while Ty Rimmer stopped 27 shots for Prince George.
Bruins 5, Chiefs 4 (OT)
Lucas Gore made 54 saves and Kevin Sundher scored his second goal of the game in overtime as the Chilliwack Bruins beat the Spokane Chiefs 5-4 in Western Hockey League playoff action Wednesday.
Spokane leads the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final 2-1.
Spokane was poised to take a stranglehold of the first round series, roaring out to a 3-0 lead on goals from Anthony Bardaro, Tyler Johnson and Cole Hamblin.
Facing the possibility of a 3-0 series deficit with Game 4 on the road, the Bruins stormed back with three third-period goals.
Ryan Howse scored 3:04 into the third, then Robin Soudek scored a power-play goal at the 9:22 mark.
Sundher completed the comeback with a goal at 11:44 to tie the game 3-3.
Americans 5, Giants 1
Mason Wilgosh scored two goals and added an assist Wednesday as the Tri-City Americans swept their Western Hockey League first-round playoff series against Vancouver with a 5-1 win over the Giants.
The Americans ousted the Giants for the second straight year after eliminating Vancouver in the Western Conference final last spring. The loss marked the first time Giants coach Don Hay has seen his team swept since he was guiding the Americans in 1999-2000. Vancouver had not lost in the opening round since 2004-05.
The loss means Hay will have to wait at least another season before he claims the WHL's all-time playoff coaching win record. He is tied with former Edmonton Oil Kings and Portland Winterhawks coach Ken Hodge at 101.
Jordan Messier, Carter Ashton and Justin Feser also scored for the Americans, who outshot the Giants 28-18.
Brendan Gallagher replied for the Giants. But Gallagher's penchant for penalties, mainly out of frustration, also cost his club.
The Americans went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Giants were blanked on three man-advantage opportunities.
Winterhawks 5, Silvertips 4
The Portland Winterhawks turned the tide with two goals in 13 seconds, going on to defeat the Everett Silvertips 5-4 Wednesday night in Game 3 of their first-round Western Hockey League playoff series.
Nino Niederreiter scored from in close during a delayed penalty late in the second period to knot the score at 3-3. Then on the ensuing faceoff, the Winterhawks took advantage of a turnover in the neutral zone, with Sven Bartschi setting up Ty Rattie off the rush to give Portland a lead it wouldn't relinquish.
Bartschi, Brad Ross and Ryan Johansen also scored for top-seeded Portland, which took a commanding 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 is Thursday in Everett.
Mac Carruth earned the win in goal, making 34 saves.
Rasmus Rissanen scored twice to lead eighth-seeded Everett, which tripled its goal output in the series. Ryan Murray and Tyler Maxwell also scored for the Silvertips.
Luke Siemens, who has played the entire series in goal for Everett in place of the injured Kent Simpson, finished with 45 saves.