Nathan MacKinnon and his Halifax Mooseheads teammates will look to pull off another series comeback in Game 5 against the Rimouski Oceanic on Friday Night Hockey on Sportsnet.
The Mooseheads regained home ice advantage in their series with the Oceanic after Rimouski won the first two games of the series at the Halifax Metro Centre on the weekend. The resilient Mooseheads tied the series with back-to-back road victories in Rimouski and will have an opportunity to take a series lead back to Halifax for Game 6.
Watch the Mooseheads battle the Oceanic in Game 5 Friday on Sportsnet East, Ontario, West and Pacific at 7 p.m. ET
“Wherever the wins come from,” says Mooseheads head coach Dominique Ducharme, “we want to be getting to four.”
It’s the second time the Mooseheads rallied to tie a series, even though the task was a little less daunting this time around. In the previous round, Halifax became just the fourth team in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League history to win a series after losing the first three to the Quebec Remparts.
It was a bitter pill for the Oceanic to swallow after stealing home ice with some impressive wins in Halifax. Head coach Serge Beausoleil predicted a long series, but is hoping the two home losses will light a fire under his players.
“We were a little bit too comfortable mentally,” he said, adding that their style remained the same. “All around the town, we’re like heroes here and for the young kids out there, it was maybe too much to deal with.”
MacKinnon, who left late in the third period of Wednesday’s game with a perceived upper-body injury, was confirmed by Ducharme as being ready to play on Friday. His coach says it was more precautionary to keep Mackinnon out with a two-goal lead and less than four minutes remaining in regulation.
Will the Oceanic capitalize on their stretch passes?
The Océanic have two characteristics which make them tough to defend: their speedy forwards and their defence’s ability to send them for breakaways. Captain Jean-Philippe Mathieu and Jerome Gauthier-Leduc are two of the best in the business with the puck on their sticks and can create instant offence.
“We have to read the play and fill the lane,” Beausoleil said. “When we have open lanes, we’re pretty good to do the quick releases so that’s good for us to stretch the guy behind the D when there’s an opening.”
The Oceanic will send their forwards behind the opposing defence even when the puck is in the offensive zone. Their most dangerous play, however, is in their home rink, the Colisee, where benches are on opposite sides, which lends towards making those passes quickly off the rush.
“A couple times they caught us with a guy behind us so we need to be smart on our changes,” Ducharme said. “We have to be aware of where we change.
“We need to have everyone to be taking away those lanes before stretch passes or not having (their D) carrying the puck too long. It’s a collective job playing against them.”
Can the Mooseheads’ young guns keep clicking?
MacKinnon is the offensive catalyst on this team, scoring a franchise record 13 playoff goals. He’s been creating as both a finisher and a set-up man in this series. Jonathan Drouin, the second-overall pick behind MacKinnon, is equally potent with a goal and six helpers in this series.
Meanwhile, goaltender Zach Fucale, who has played 72 straight games between the Mooseheads and under-17 tournament for Quebec, is remarkably still churning out solid performances. His play, and that of his 16-year-old teammates, comes as no surprise to their head coach.
“If you would have told me that before the season, before I knew the guys before training camp, yes, I would have been surprised,” Ducharme said. “I’m not surprised because they’re character kids. They want to win, they want to be making a difference, they learn quickly, they adjust quick so right now I’m not surprised.”
Their captain, Cameron Critchlow, is also providing a spark. He scored the third goal in Halifax’s 3-1 win in Game 4 by tipping a point shot while fighting through traffic.
“We have to control their sticks better because Critchlow was cross-checked in front of the net and he was ready to tip the puck,” Beausoleil said. “That was an incredible move for him. I don’t know how. I can not figure out how he did it. It was incredible.”
The Mooseheads’ big bodies in front created opportunities time and again.
“We have to get in their faces,” Beausoleil concluded. “Critchlow is a poison around the net so you have to be careful and take care of them.”
Can the Oceanic regain their momentum-killing goals?
Never has a team rallied from being scored on more convincingly than the Oceanic. In Game 2 of their series, Halifax took a lead four times, only to have the Oceanic answer each goal. Three of those four tying goals were scored less than two minutes after the Mooseheads had taken a lead.
“I think it’s resiliency,” Beausoleil said. “The power to face an obstacle and to do whatever it takes to win the battle to come back. That’s a good, character team we have.”
The Oceanic twice tied Game 3, but lost 4-3. They were unable to answer any of the Mooseheads’ three goals in Game 4, which leaves Ducharme believing his team found the way to maintain momentum against the quick-strike Oceanic attack.
“Since (Game 2) we’ve done a pretty good job of playing with the lead,” he said. “It’s important to stay composed, confident and calm and to really keep playing the same way we can play. That’s what we did and we did a good job.”
