LEWISTON – The Rimouski Oceanic won the first two games by a combined score of 9-3, including a 3-0 shutout in Game 2. Sidney Crosby, Marc-Antoine Pouliot and Dany Roussin combined for almost 400 points in the regular season, and in the playoffs have accumulated 10 points in two games.
The Oceanic have not lost in 2005, and have tied in that stretch just twice.
Faced with that and much more, the Lewiston Maineiacs, down 2-0, seem to be backed into a corner. Can they win?
“Why not? If we don’t think that, we are giving up,” said Maineiacs head coach Clem Jodoin. “If we play smart hockey, then yes. If we stay on the ice, yes. If we do the little things that we did from the beginning against Shawinigan, then yes. They have a better team than we do. Skills and everything, yes they do, but the game is still played on the ice, and that means anything can happen there.”
Almost everything did happen Saturday night in Rimouski, when the teams combined for 119 official penalty minutes and several other 10-minute penalties that are not counted by the league as official. The Maineiacs lost their highest-scoring defenseman (Brandon Roach) in the first period to an injury, and in the third lost spark plug Nick Cowan to a questionable high-sticking call that left him suspended for Game 3.
Faceoff for Game 3 at the Colisee is set for tonight at 7 p.m.
“We went into the meeting this morning, and I said, I asked the players, Do you want to beat Rimouski?,'” said Jodoin. “I addressed what happened with Cowan, and his suspension. I addressed the issue with guys playing and not playing Friday night and Saturday night.”
Jodoin toyed with the idea of reuniting Mathieu Aubin, Alex Bourret and Alexandre Picard for tonight’s game in practice Monday, but would not say for sure if the move would happen. He did, however, call attention to a rash of penalties by both teams in Game 2.
“When you are the most penalized team in the league, you have to expect you will get looked at,” said Jodoin. “Some of the referees don’t like some of our players, so those are some things you have to keep in mind. You have to be smart enough to realize that it’s playoff hockey and you have to stay on the ice. Hockey is skating, shooting, scoring, finishing your checks. It’s not what’s happening after the whistle. We went over the penalties from Saturday, and there were some good ones, and there were some very bad ones.”
Rimouski, meanwhile, was not a team of angels, either. Fifty-seven penalty minutes were just five shy of the Maineiacs’ total, and the power-play opportunities for both teams were just about even.
“Hey, it was both teams,” said Jodoin. “(In Game 1) we had eight (penalty kills) they had nine, (in Game 2) we had 14 they had 12, so it was pretty even there.”
Even Crosby got into penalty trouble Saturday, sitting twice for minor infractions and once for tackling Picard in retaliation. But Crosby is not going to be a physical threat to Lewiston. He will be the focus of the defense’s attention.
“You have to know where they are, break them defensively and create turnovers,” said Maineiacs forward Ryan Murphy of the Oceanic’s top line. “You have to play smart.”
“If we stay out of the box, we are OK,” added defenseman Bobby Gates. “That’s our biggest problem right there. We play 5-on-5 the whole game we are definitely going to win, or at least have a chance.”
Jodoin cited goaltender Jaroslav Halak as a big key in the process, but acknowledged that beating the Oceanic will take a lot more than one person.
“I think we have a goalie that will help us to win,” said Jodoin. “I think we have a good system, I think we have a good PK (penalty kill), and in the first game we had a good PP (power play), but penalties, penalties, penalties, we cannot take all of those. Our best players have to stay on the ice. They have to show leadership. They have to bring the young kids in the right direction. I kept my older guys all together after the meeting, and we brought up some things. This is hockey, stay on the ice, blocking shots, finishing your checks, knowing your role, protecting on the puck. It’s all details of the game.”
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