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That’s more like it — The Moncton Wildcats weren't just looking for a win. They wanted to make a statement.

They accomplished both with a dominant performance in an 8-2 triumph over the Victoriaville Tigres in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action on Saturday night in front of 1,966 fans at the Colisee Desjardins.

The best-of-seven opening round series is tied 1-1. The action shifts to the Moncton Coliseum for 7 p.m. games tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday.

"We had a nice meeting (on Saturday afternoon)," said Moncton head coach Ted Nolan. "We talked about the things we didn't do right (in a 4-2 loss in Game 1) and the things we have to do right in order to win games.

"You have to have respect for your opponent. We didn't have that in Game 1 and we didn't play the way we can. Tonight we came in with the right attitude and we showed the way the Wildcats can play."

The heavily favoured Wildcats were facing a 1-0 series deficit and they trailed 1-0 early in Game 2. They rallied in impressive fashion and wound up with a 55-18 shots edge.

"Our team was pretty resilient when we faced adversity throughout the season," said Nolan. "There was no panic on the bench when they got the first goal. It didn't make anyone tighten up. We knew what we had to do, we were focused, we were determined and we got what we deserved tonight."

The line of Philippe Dupuis, Adam Pineault and Stephane Goulet led the way for Moncton. The breakdown was one goal and three assists for Dupuis, two goals for Pineault and one goal and one assist for Goulet.

"This was a good bounce back (after a bad Game 1)," said Pineault. "This is what we needed to go back home with. If we keep playing like this, I don't think they'll stand a chance.

"It's clear that we did't come to play in the series opener and it showed. When we do what we're taught in practice and we follow the game plan everything just works a hundred times easier. We underestimated them in Game 1, but we learned from it."

Jean-Philip Chabot, Nathan Welton, Matt Marquardt and Jerome Samson also scored for Moncton. Victoriaville's goals came from Benoit Doucet and Maxim Noreau.

On the power play, Moncton was 1-for-9 and Victoriaville was 2-for-6.

Victoriaville goaltender Jean-Christophe Blanchard allowed seven goals on 45 shots and got pulled with 11:05 remaining. Julien Walsh was beaten once on 10 shots over the remainder.

"We had 50 shots in Game 1, but clearly most of them were from outside the perimeter," said Pineault. "Tonight we shot from inside the perimeter, forechecked and used our body to create a lot more good scoring chances."

Blanchard offered this analysis.

"Moncton came out more intense tonight and we didn't come out the way we're capable of," he said. "They were going harder for rebounds and loose pucks. We were too confident after winning the first game and we didn't work hard enough.

"We're the underdog and this is a wakeup call for everybody. We have no business thinking we're better than them. They're ranked first in Canada so we're going to have to work hard to have a chance."

Moncton held a 12-4 shots edge in the first period and took a 2-1 lead into the intermission.

The Tigres struck on the power play at 2:56. Goulet created a turnover in the corner off the forecheck, fired a backhand pass across the front of the net and Pineault converted as the Wildcats tied it 1-1 at 9:45.

Karsums showed good pursuit to retrieve the puck behind the net, centre a pass and Chabot cashed in from the edge of the goalmouth to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead at 13:19.

Moncton dominated the second period with a 25-4 shots edge. Dupuis drew an assist on all three goals in the frame as the Wildcats jumped ahead 5-1 after 40 minutes.

The Wildcats made it 3-1 on Welton's screened slapshot from the blueline at 7:25. The Tigres then called a timeout, but that did nothing to change the momentum and slow down the hard-charging Wildcats.

Dupuis came out from behind the net, centered a pass and Pineault drilled a close one-timer slapshot into the top corner at 15:23. Goulet cashed in on a rebound to make it 5-1 at 18:01.

Moncton was leading 37-8 in shots after two periods. It held an 18-10 shots edge in the third period and added three more goals by the midway mark to increase the count to 8-1.

"I think (in Game 1) we played too fancy," said Dupuis. "Today we were hitting, skating a lot and forechecking hard. Just the fact that we put pressure on their defence and played more physical, I think it helped a lot.

"We didn't respect the game plan at all (in Game 1). We were angry with ourselves (entering Game 2) and determined to play a lot better. I think we came out really strong and it's a good sign the way we bounced back."

Teams are usually happy with a split when they play the first two games of a series on the road.

"We're not happy," said Dupuis. "We were looking to be ahead 2-0. We thought a little too much about the fact we wanted to beat them in four. Now, we realize we have to take it one game at a time against every team."

Victoriaville head coach Stephan Lebeau offered this assessment.

"The first thing is we have to forget this game as soon as possible," he said. "Obviously, tonight the Wildcats really stepped up their game and we were not able to follow their speed. They gave us a lot of problems and we were not ready to pay the price.

"We'll see how we're going to react and bounce back from this. I think in playoffs it's important not to get too excited and not to get too low. We knew that Moncton was a big challenge and if you would've said we were going to split the first two games we would've been happy with that."

The Wildcats managed 10 goals on 105 shots in the opening two games. They beat Blanchard for nine goals on 95 shots.

"Blanchard played outstanding and obviously with the number of shots he faced I thought it was time to give him a little rest," said Lebeau in reference to why he made the goaltending change late in Game 2.

"It's far from blaming Blanchard for the loss. He stood on his head for us and didn't have a chance on a lot of those goals. He did a good job, but at a certain point I thought it was time to rest him. I haven't made the decision yet, but there's a good chance he'll be back for the next game."

Saturday's other results were: Acadie-Bathurst Titan 6, Prince Edward Island Rocket 5 in overtime; St. John's Fog Devils 2, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 1 in overtime; Lewiston MAINEiacs 1, Halifax Mooseheads 0; Quebec Remparts 4, Val d'Or Foreurs 3 in overtime; Shawinigan Cataractes 3, Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 2; Chicoutimi Sagueneens 5, Baie-Comeau Drakkar 2; Gatineau Olympiques 6, Drummondville Voltigeurs 4.

Chicoutimi and Gatineau hold a 2-0 series lead. All other series are tied 1-1.

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Moncton grabs 2-1 series lead with impressive 10-4 triumph over Victoriaville Tigres; Game 4 goes tonight


On the scale for weirdness, give this one the maximum 10 rating.

The Moncton Wildcats more than tripled their opponent in shots, but were still forced to rally from three deficits for a 10-4 win over the Victoriaville Tigres in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action last night in front of 4,070 fans at the Moncton Coliseum.

The Wildcats grabbed a 2-1 lead in the opening round best-of-seven series.

The showdown continues with games tonight and Friday at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Coliseum.

"It wasn't your typical playoff game," said Wildcats head coach Ted Nolan after watching his club pile up a 66-19 shots edge. "It's not too often you're going to score 10 goals in a playoff game.

"We proved a number of times throughout the season that we're a resilient team that doesn't quit. Again tonight, we never quit. We worked hard and found a way to battle through some adversity so that's a great sign."

Moncton was trailing 4-2 at 5:25 of the second period and that's despite the fact it was leading 31-11 in shots at that point.

That prompted a goaltending change for the Wildcats, who pulled Josh Tordjman in favour of Jhase Sniderman. Tordjman allowed four goals on 11 shots and Sniderman stopped all eight shots he faced over the remainder.

Wildcats assistant captain Josh Hepditch fought one second after play resumed. The Wildcats went on to score five goals in 11 minutes, including four goals before Sniderman even faced his first shot.

"We were lucky that we had some momentum changers," said Nolan. "It was a combination of things ... the goaltending change, Hepditch's fight and the goal off a video review to get our comeback started."

Christian Gaudet and Martins Karsums both notched a hat trick to spark Moncton. Adam Pineault, Jerome Samson, Brad Marchand and Philippe Dupuis rounded out the scoring.

Oskars Bartulis contributed four assists and Maxime Belanger had three assists for the Wildcats.

Adam Ross, Maxim Noreau, Francis Charland and Benoit Doucet countered for Victoriaville.

On the power play, Moncton was 3-for-14 and Victoriaville was 1-for-8.

Gaudet, the Wildcats captain, missed the first two games with a cut in his foot that required 19 stitches. He made a big impact in his comeback, scoring three of his club's first six goals and adding an assist for four points.

"I wasn't sure if I was going to play tonight," he said. "The decision was only made after warmup. (Assistant coach) Daniel Lacroix found some padding for my foot so that it didn't bother me.

"It definitely feels good to be back in the lineup. The last two games I missed it was tough watching from the stands. I'm glad I could come back and help out offensively to take some of the pressure of Philippe Dupuis' line."

Gaudet commented on the team's mood when trailing 4-2.

"I think we were pretty relaxed on the bench," he said. "There was a little bit of frustration because we looked at the shots clock and we weren't playing bad. We knew we had to come out even harder right away and not wait until the end.

"We never gave up. We kept battling. I think the turning point was when Josh Hepditch fought. That really boosted up the guys and after that we scored a bunch of goals."

Moncton dominated with a 27-6 shots edge in the first period, but it still had to overcome a pair of deficits for a 2-2 tie at the intermission.

The Wildcats were 0-for-7 on the power play in the penalty-filled frame.

The Tigres were 1-for-4 on the power play.

The Tigres were trailing 13-4 in shots when they opened the summary at 8:37. The Wildcats made it 1-1 when Keith Yandle made a nice pass up the middle from deep in his own zone to spring Gaudet for a shorthanded breakaway at 14:29.

The Tigres struck back quickly to take a 2-1 lead on a two-man advantage at 15:03. Samson made a great play to centre a pass from behind the net and Pineault drilled a close one-timer shot into the top corner as the Wildcats made it 2-2 at 16:36.

Moncton held a 22-8 shots edge in a wild second period. The hometown squad rallied from its third deficit, this time down by two goals, and led 7-4 after 40 minutes.

The Tigres scored twice in 21 seconds and jumped ahead 4-2 at 5:25. The Wildcats rebounded in impressive fashion and exploded for five goals in 11 minutes, including the first four goals in five minutes.

The Wildcats began their outburst just 39 seconds after falling behind 4-2. Samson scored on a wraparound play to make it 4-3 at 6:04, a goal that wasn't official until referee Brad Mills went to video review.

Bartulis took a slapshot from the blueline and Gaudet redirected it to pull the Wildcats into a 4-4 tie at 8:46. Bartulis took a slapshot from the blueline and Karsums redirected it to give the hometown squad its first lead by making it 5-4 at 10:23.

It was like a broken record: Another Bartulis slapshot from the blueline led to Gaudet's goal at 11:04. Karsums then completed the fireworks to extend the lead to 7-4 at 17:04.

Moncton held a 17-5 shots edge in the third period and it added three goals on the power play to turn the game into a 10-4 blowout.

"Even when we were down 4-2, everybody stayed positive and feeling confident," said Bartulis, who had the first four-point game of his career. "The coach told us to just keep shooting and working hard and the goals are going to come.

"The coach told us to stay focused on your job and the goals are going to come. I think we did a really good job and bounced back. For sure, this is going to give us confidence going into the next game."

Moncton has scored 20 goals on 171 shots and it's 6-for-37 on the power play in the opening three games of this series.

"When you spend that much time killing penalties, it demands a lot of energy and you're going to pay for it sooner or later," said Victoriaville head coach Stephan Lebeau. "It's basically a waste of energy and you lose the momentum when you're shorthanded all the time.

"Obviously, we are undisciplined and if we don't change we're going to be in big trouble. We're giving up way too many shots against and a big part of the reason is the number of power plays we're giving Moncton. I'm very disappointed the way my team has behaved on the ice the last two games.

"We were leading 4-2, but then after that we didn't look like a hockey team out there. We weren't able to follow their speed and compete. I'm looking for a response character wise from my team and hopefully it's going to come next game."

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Philippe Dupuis looked like a man on a mission.

The 20-year-old centre turned the game into his personal playground by scoring four goals and adding two assists to lead the Moncton Wildcats to a 9-4 win over the Victoriaville Tigres in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action last night in front of 4,009 fans at the Moncton Coliseum.

The Wildcats grabbed a 3-1 lead in the opening round best-of-seven series.

They will look to clinch it in Game 5 tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Coliseum.

"It's the first time I ever had six points in a playoff game in this league," said Dupuis. "I didn't think I played good (in Tuesday night's 10-4 win). Tonight I wanted to really step up and make sure I was there for my teammates.

"We never scored the first goal in any game in the series and tonight we did. We were determined to get off to a strong start in this game and try to score the first goal to discourage them."

Adam Pineault, Keith Yandle, Josh Hepditch, Stephane Goulet and Martins Karsums also scored for Moncton, which held a 48-26 shots edge. Goulet, Karsums, Christian Gaudet and Andrew MacDonald all had two assists.

Toby Lafrance, Francis Charland, Benoit Doucet and Alexandre Imbeault countered for Victoriaville.

On the power play, Moncton was 5-for-10 and Victoriaville was 1-for-6.

"We want to make sure that every time they go in the penalty box they pay for it," said Dupuis, who leads the Wildcats in playoff scoring with six goals and 14 points in four games.

Yandle, who also had three assists for four points, offered this assessment.

"The first three games they got the first goal and got up on us," he said. "We said before the game tonight that we had to come out hard and establish ourselves right away and I think we did that.

"We were moving the puck well on the power play and getting a lot of shots on net. If teams want to get undisciplined against us, we'll make them pay while they're in the penalty box. I think we drew them into a lot of penalties with our speed and hard work."

Moncton looked like it was alone on the ice in the first period. It dominated the play with a 20-3 shots edge and built a 5-0 lead by the intermission.

The Tigres showed no resistance and demonstrated a lack of discipline.

They paid the price for it as the Wildcats were 3-for-6 on the power play in the penalty-filled frame which featured four fights.

The Tigres lost their composure early and instigated a fight one second after the ensuing faceoff on each of the first two goals. When the Wildcats weren't embarrassing them on the scoreboard, the visitors were embarrassing themselves through their own actions.

The height of the Tigres' undisciplined play came with 2:34 remaining in the first period. Hepditch was laying on the ice after being highsticked in the face and Tigres defenceman Patrick Simard clearly fired a slapshot at him intentionally after the whistle.

"That's not acceptable," said Victoriaville head coach Stephan Lebeau. "We should not see something like that. Again, it was a bad judgment by one of our players and hopefully we'll play smarter on Friday night."

Hepditch offered his reaction to Simard.

"It's a cheap shot by him," he said. "It's a greasy move, but we capitalized on the power play so that's all that counts."

Moncton head coach Ted Nolan continued the thought.

"I thought that should've been a match penalty (to Simard)," he said. "I mean you could seriously hurt somebody doing something like that. We'll be sending in the videotape of that one to the league for sure.

"There's no place for that in the game whatsoever. They were hitting people from behind and there's no room for that either. If you want to play physical, play physical. But when you're hitting people from behind and shooting pucks at people when they're down - that's not physical, that's dirty."

Moncton scored five goals in a span of less than 10 minutes in the first period. The fireworks began when Pineault scored on a bad-angle shot while the club was working on a delayed penalty call at 9:08.

Dupuis cashed in on the power play and Hepditch struck again just 19 seconds later to make it 3-0 at 10:58.

Dupuis notched his second goal of the game, again on the power play, as the Wildcats extended their lead to 4-0 at 15:55.

The Wildcats were having an easy walk in the park with a 15-2 shots edge at that point. The Tigres then made a goaltending change by pulling Jean-Christophe Blanchard in favour of Julien Walsh.

The Wildcats converted on the power play and made it 5-0 on a goal by Karsums at 18:35.

Moncton continued to pour it on with a 20-6 shots edge in the second period.

The Tigres got on the scoreboard in the opening minute. Dupuis and Goulet scored just 34 seconds apart to put the Wildcats ahead 7-1 at 5:38 and take note they were leading 27-4 in shots at that point.

The clubs traded goals late in the frame to leave the Wildcats with an 8-2 lead after 40 minutes.

Victoriaville held a 17-8 shots edge in the third period and pulled to within 8-3 on a two-man advantage at 14:36. The clubs traded goals in the final three minutes to round out the summary.

"When the score gets lopsided like tonight, you have a tendency to let up sometimes and get off track a little bit," said Nolan. "That's just human nature.

"The big thing is we want to come out strong next game and carry it through the whole game. We're leading 3-1 in the series and we want to come out strong to start the next game and send them the message that we don't want to go back to Victoriaville."

Added Dupuis: "It's very important for us to wrap up this series at home on Friday. We want to come out with killer instinct. We don't want to give them any hope."

Moncton has scored 19 goals on 114 shots and it's 8-for-24 on the power play in the past two games at home.

"We're doing the right things to draw them into a lot of penalties," said Hepditch. "We're moving our feet and skating hard. The only way they can keep up is if they're hooking, holding or punching us after the whistle.

"One thing we pay a lot of attention to is discipline and we're going to keep going like that.

"You can tell they're starting to get frustrated on the other side and starting to get down. We want to go for their throat now and make sure we don't give them any hope."

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The Moncton Wildcats defeated the Victoriaville Tigres 7-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action last night in front of 4,641 fans at the Moncton Coliseum, enabling them to post a convincing 4-1 win in their opening round best-of-seven series.

"We saw what it takes to be a top championship contender," said Victoriaville head coach Stephan Lebeau. "Obviously, they're a great hockey team and not only talent-wise but also the way they behave on the ice. They're disciplined and they have commitment to details.

"I think my young players can take a lot from this series in terms of learning what it takes to become a contender. Moncton is well balanced. Every time they throw a line on the ice it's very intense. It's simple hockey, but effective hockey.

"You look at their attitude, discipline and commitment. Add that to their talent and that's what makes a great hockey team. They have all my respect. They have all our respect and we wish them good luck, especially at the Memorial Cup."

It's not determined who the Wildcats will face in the second round, but the series is expected to begin next Saturday at the Moncton Coliseum. The other three opening round series in the Eastern Division are still ongoing.

Moncton, 52-15-0-3, finished first overall in the QMJHL with 107 points. Victoriaville, 26-42-1-1, was ninth in the Western Division and the lowest seed among the 16 playoff qualifiers with 54 points.

The Wildcats lost the series opener, but then stormed back with four lopsided wins. They outscored their opponent 36-16 in the series and wound up with an average of 7.2 goals, 52.6 shots and 10.4 power plays per game.

"I think after the first game we all learned our lesson and we knew we couldn't play like that," said Wildcats captain Christian Gaudet. "I think we kept putting the bar higher and higher each game so that's a good sign.

"We came out really strong in the first period tonight determined to try to put the game away early. We definitely wanted to wrap it up and get some time off in between series."

Adam Pineault scored twice for Moncton with singles coming from Gaudet, Philippe Dupuis, Keith Yandle, Matt Eagles and Jean-Philip Chabot. Pineault added one assist, Dupuis had two assists and they led the club with three points.

Nathan Welton and Stephane Goulet both chipped in with two assists for the Wildcats, who held a 44-15 shots edge. That was their lowest shots total in the series.

Kyle Kelly and Alexandre Imbeault countered for Victoriaville.

On the power play, Moncton was 4-for-5 and Victoriaville was 1-for-4.

The Tigres played their most disciplined game of the series last night and cut down considerably on their time in the penalty box. The Wildcats still scored on their first four power plays of the game to jump out to a 5-0 lead.

"We wanted to play a much better game with more discipline and we did that," said Lebeau. "I was very impressed in the first three games the way we handled their power play, but with their skill level it's a matter of time before you pay for it."

Moncton got off to an outstanding start and showed no mercy with a 15-2 shots edge in the first period. It took a 4-0 lead into the intermission.

Gaudet crashed the crease and scored on a rebound to get things started on the power play at 7:33. Pineault picked up a pass while streaking through the neutral zone, blew by a defender and fired a shot into the top corner to make it 2-0 on the power play at 9:25.

The Wildcats were leading 12-1 in shots when they jumped ahead 3-0 at 12:36. Pineault did the damage again with a bullet one-timer slapshot from near the top of the faceoff circle.

The Tigres then pulled goaltender Julien Walsh in favour of Jean-Christophe Blanchard. Walsh re-entered for the final 10 minutes of the game.

Walsh allowed three goals on 15 shots in 22:39. Blanchard was beaten for four goals on 29 shots in 37:21.

It was 14-1 in shots when the Wildcats converted for the third time on the power play to make it 4-0 at 13:47. Yandle turned on the red light with a screened slapshot from the blueline shortly after Blanchard entered.

Moncton held a 22-9 shots edge in the second period and its lead was 6-2 after 40 minutes.

The Wildcats made it 4-for-4 on the power play and extended their lead to 5-0 at 4:13. Blanchard stopped the shot, but Dupuis was at the side of the net to cash in on the rebound.

The Tigres converted on the power play at 6:56, but the Wildcats struck back less than two minutes later to take a 6-1 lead. The Tigres made it 6-2 with just over three minutes remaining.

Moncton owned a 7-4 shots edge in the third period and scored the lone goal. Chabot rounded out the summary to make it 7-2 at 8:42.

"We continued to do what we did the last few games. We had to compete, work hard and most of all just follow the game plan," said Pineault, who scored two of the first three goals to help spark the Wildcats' fast start.

"Victoriaville is a team that showed a lot of character throughout the series and the first game we just weren't ready. We made sure that every other game we were ready and that's the type of mindset we need to keep."

Moncton finished at 15-for-52 (28.8 per cent) on the power play in the series. It was 9-for-15 (60 per cent) on the power play in the final two games.

This marked the first time the Wildcats have clinched a playoff series on home ice since they defeated the Quebec Remparts in the second round in 1999-2000.

"The main thing is we didn't want to go back to Victoriaville (for Game 6 tomorrow)," said Dupuis. "All the guys wanted to finish this series as quickly as possible. It's a chance to have a week in between series now so we can rest some bumps and bruises.

"We lost Game 1 in the series, but we came back strong and showed the killer instinct to finish them off in five games. We were soft in the first game, but we played hungry the last four games and showed a lot more passion."

Wildcats head coach Ted Nolan offered this assessment.

"When you're in a series, the fourth win is usually the hardest one to get," he said. "I thought the way we played in the first period we showed that we wanted to get it over tonight.

"We don't want anyone taking liberties with us whether it's this series or next series. We want people to know they can't take liberties with us because our power play will hurt them. Our power play came up big again tonight and got us off to a great start."