Linemates Nathan MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin combined for five goals and nine points on Saturday as the Halifax Mooseheads downed the visiting Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 6-4 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action.
MacKinnon recorded his first-career post-season hat trick and added an assist for the Mooseheads, who took Game 1 of the best-of-seven third round series, and Drouin had two goals and three assists.
Martin Frk scored once and set up two more for Halifax while Stefan Fournier extended his point streak to nine games with a single assist.
Jean-Sebastien Dea had a goal and three assists for the Huskies, who fell to 2-3-0 on the road, and Nikita Kucherov scored twice.
Sven Andrighetto recorded a goal and two assists for Rouyn-Noranda, increasing his league lead in playoff scoring to 25 points in 11 games.
Zachary Fucale made 27 saves for the win as Alexandre Belanger turned away 23-of-28 shots in defeat.
Four goals against was the most given up by Fucale in nine post-season starts, however he still has a league-best 1.44 goals-against average.
Halifax went 2 for 5 on the power play while Rouyn-Noranda scored twice on eight chances with the man advantage.
The Mooseheads will host Game 2 Sunday at the Halifax Metro Centre.
Elsewhere in the QMJHL, it was: Baie-Comeau 2, Blainville-Boisbriand 1.
At Halifax, Frk opened the scoring 1:15 into the first period and MacKinnon made it 2-0 Halifax at 10:38.
Kucherov put the Huskies on the board in the final minute of the period and then tied the game 38 seconds into the second.
Drouin regained the lead for the Mooseheads when he scored on a penalty shot midway through the period.
MacKinnon scored his second goal before Dea got one back for Rouyn-Noranda, making it 4-3 after 40 minutes of action.
For the second time in the game the Huskies came back from being two goals down when Andrighetto scored 1:09 into the third, but Drouin responded with the eventual winner at 8:58.
MacKinnon completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal in the final minute.
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Drakkar 2 Armada 1
At Baie-Comeau, Que., Maxime Lamarche scored the winner at 18:46 of the second period and Philippe Cadorette stopped 22-of-23 shots as the Drakkar edged Blainville-Boisbriand to take a 2-0 series lead. The Armada host Game 3 of the best-of-seven third-round matchup on Tuesday at the Centre d’excellence Sports Rousseau.
