The L/A Nordiques completed the weekend sweep of the Long Beach Sharks in style Saurday afternoon with an 8-1 victory. The Nordiques have now started the season 10-0.
Forward Colby Audette had a hat trick while defenseman JP Chauvin chipped in with two goals.
After a long day Friday, coach Cam Robichaud said his team was better rested for game two after defeating the Sharks 4-2 on Friday night in Long Beach, New York.
“We left at 7 a.m. (Friday), went to the hotel for two hours and came right to the game at 8:30,” Robichaud said. “We were pretty much on the bus the whole day. We were a little slow, but we had some good moments. I thought we were much better today. I will say this: Their goaltender (Ryan) Cortez played yesterday and today, he was fantastic. Especially yesterday, he stopped a lot of pucks, not as many today, but made some quality saves still.”
Cortez made 24 saves on Saturday.
Audette potted the game’s first two goals 35 seconds apart, with the first goal coming at the 6:38 mark of the first period. Both goals were assisted by Kyle Secor.
Chauvin made it 3-0 with 59 seconds left in the opening period with Cole Ouellette notching the assist. Robichaud liked how the team got that third goal of the game.
“That third goal was real important because we were in a similar situation (Friday) night where it was 2-0,” Robichaud said. “I said to the guys, ‘The next one is big, it’s either going to get them into the game with a one-goal game or it kind of opens it up.’ Last night they got the one, so 2-1 it was a battle. We talked about it in intermission, I said, ‘Great job responding, getting that third goal and learning from yesterday’s game.’ When we got that third one, we were in control.”
Chauvin added his second goal at the midway mark of the second period, with Mike Keller and Zack Mullen notching the assists.
Richard Frosch put the Sharks’ only goal past Nordiques goalie Jason St. Pierre with 6:48 to go in the second period. St. Pierre made nine saves in the victory.
Crewz Berry responded 23 seconds later with Audette and Connor Kennedy picking up the helpers. Keller picked up his second assist in the contest on Audette’s third goal of the game with 1:40 remaining in the middle frame.
Ouellette made it 6-1 at the 5:42 mark of the third period, with Berry and Kennedy each notching an assist. Nicolas Lusignan capped the scoring in the final minute of the game with Ouellette setting the goal up.
With Lusignan’s goal, all 19 skaters who have suited up this season now have scored a goal this season.
Forward Josh Sanchez, who’s tied for the team lead in points with 20, sat out Saturday’s contest for precautionary reasons as an old wrist injury was bothering him. Robichaud doesn’t think it will keep Sanchez out of the lineup for any extended amount of time.
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