Only 20 games remain in the QMJHL regular season as the playoff picture comes into focus. Every team will play an afternoon game on Saturday to conclude the regular season, with many playoff matchups being determined in the 16-team playoff.
With a pair of wins, the Phoenix Sherbrooke locked up home-ice advantage in the first round. They join Baie-Comeau, Val-d’Or, Shawinigan, Québec, Blainville-Boisbriand, Moncton and Rimouski as teams who will open playoff series on home ice. Charlottetown, Saint John, Rouyn-Noranda, Halifax, Cape Breton, Gatineau, Chicoutimi and Victoriaville will all begin playoff quests on the road. First place will come down to a battle between Rimouski and Moncton who both have 93 points with three games remaining.
Moncton’s Connor Garland will finish the year with the most points on the season as his 125 points are miles ahead of Danick Martel (102), Nikita Jevpalovs (100) and Nikolaj Ehlers (99). With 53 goals, Maxime St-Cyr of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar looks to fend off Nikita Jevpalovs (49) and Danick Martel (48) as goal-scoring champ. Remparts forward Dmytro Timashov holds a 15-point lead in the rookie scoring race with 89 points while teammate Nikolas Brouillard has a one-point lead in the defenceman scoring race with 55 points.
Here’s what you need to know from around the Q this week:
Maritimes Division
Center Filip Chlapik of the Charlottetown Islanders now holds the franchise record for most points (70) and goals by a rookie (31). On Wednesday night against Acadie-Bathurst, Chlapik set up a goal by Daniel Sprong, his 70th point of the season. The previous record of 69 was held by Chris Montgomery in 1999-2000 when the team was known as the Montreal Rocket. Goalie Mason McDonald also set a franchise record with his 27th win of the season.
A lot of attention has been on the duo of Sprong and Chlapik, two potential first-rounders in the June NHL draft. But don’t forget Kameron Kielly, the 70th-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting Services, who is averaging a point-per-game this season. This week he picked up two goals and two assists for an Islanders team that’s played more consistently down the stretch. The 6-foot, 182-lb. centre is a two-way forward who has brought his plus-minus total up to plus-1 after being minus-12 last season. He has 16 goals and 71 points, both career bests.
The floodgates opened up for teams playing the Saint John Sea Dogs as they let in 23 goals in three games this past week. As the playoffs approach, the Sea Dogs are on a four-game losing streak in which they’ve allowed at least seven goals in each, and have only won three of their last 10 games. Over-ager Sébastien Auger has started all four games and has seen his March GAA balloon to 5.60, much higher than his season mark of 3.02. A similar thing happened to Auger last season as he had a bad month of March, picking up four losses and posting a 4.15 GAA to bump his season GAA to 3.18.
A shakeup between the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles pipes to start 2015 has proved to be beneficial for all parties involved. François Brassard was acquired from the Québec Remparts in the off-season to be the starting goalie, but was placed on waivers in December after the team acquired Alexandre Bélanger from Rouyn-Noranda. Since Brassard left, Miguel Sullivan has taken over starting duties for the Screaming Eagles with 12 wins and six losses for a team that’s found consistent scoring from Evgeny Svechnikov and Maxim Lazarev. Brassard was claimed by his hometown team, the Gatineau Olympiques, and has helped a team that looked like they were in danger of missing the playoffs.
East Division
Home ice has been kind to the Shawinigan Cataractes in 2015 and the Cataractes hope the trend continues as they hold home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Since the start of 2015, Shawinigan only has three home losses, with one of those coming in a shootout against Québec during an outdoor game. Last week they picked up three wins at home, including a 6-5 win over the red-hot Val-d’Or Foreurs.
Dennis Yan, a winger who is NHL draft-eligible, had two goals and two assists against Val-d’Or and was named the game’s first star. The next night against Chicoutimi, Yan potted another pair of goals in a 4-1 win and was once again named the first star. Yan now has 32 goals and 30 helpers in his inaugural campaign.
After a week of weirdness that featured the Drakkar playing with a shortened roster because of suspensions and injuries, things returned to normal. Captain Jérémy Grégoire, a Montreal Canadiens prospect, returned to the lineup and scored three goals as the Drakkar hosted the first-place Rimouski Océanic for a pair of games. Goalie Philippe Cadorette was peppered by 83 shots in the back-to-back games, allowing six goals as Drakkar split the series. The Drakkar’s 4-2 win Friday night halted a four-game winless skid for Cadorette. He’s faced 1919 shots this season, 144 more than Marvin Cüpper who has faced the second most.
West Division
Danick Martel is the second member of the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to pick up an entry-level contract in the NHL mid-season. The Philadelphia Flyers signed the 5-foot-8, 162-lb. center who is having a career year for the Armada. In 64 games he has 102 points, shattering his previous season-high of 60 from last season. Linemate Nikita Jevpalovs signed an ELC with the San Jose Sharks in late-January and also continues to enjoy a career year, reaching the 100-point mark with a goal and assist against Drummondville in a 6-1 win Sunday.
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After winning 12 games in a row, the Val-d’Or Foreurs lost a pair of games. Shawinigan broke the Foreurs streak on Friday in a 6-5 loss. The next day, the Foreurs dropped a 4-1 decision to Québec. The loss to Shawinigan ended Etienne Montpetit’s win streak of six games while the Québec loss brought Keven Bouchard’s six-game win streak to an end. The pair of losses came after the team clinched home-ice advantage Wednesday night with a 5-2 win over Drummondville.
The Phoenix also clinched home ice in the first round of the playoffs after a pair of wins this week. Alex Bureau was between the pipes for both wins, and has started the past three games, all wins. Bureau was the team’s starter at the beginning of the season but started losing time to rookie Evan Fitzpatrick. While Fitzpatrick, the fourth pick of the 2014 Q draft, has a bright future, leaning on him so heavily wasn’t working. Cameron Darcy, a seventh-round pick by the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2014, picked up two goals and two assists in the pair of wins. After a slow start to the season in Cape Breton, Darcy has found new life with the Phoenix and now has 59 points on the season. Last year he was Cape Breton’s leading scorer with 82 points.
Three Stars
Dennis Yan, LW, Shawinigan Cataractes: With four goals this week, Yan brought his total to 32 and now has the most rookie goals, two more than Chlapik of Charlottetown. Yan scored a pair of goals and picked up a pair of helpers in a 6-5 win over Val-d’Or, then added a pair the next night against Chicoutimi. He was named the first star of both games.
Evgeny Svechnikov, RW, Cape Breton Screaming Eagles: The Russian rookie keeps getting it done for the Screaming Eagles. Svechnikov scored in all three games he played last week, highlighted by a goal and four assists in an 8-3 win over Saint John. He punished opponents on the scoreboard and along the boards, picking up seven hits. Svechnikov now has 74 points on the season, only trailing Québec’s Timashov in the rookie scoring race.
Yan Pavel Laplante, LW, Gatineau Olympiques: Not known as a goal-scorer, Yan Pavel Laplante scored four goals and added an assist in a 9-5 win over Victoriaville Sunday night. Two nights earlier, Laplante set up a pair of goals in a 5-2 win over Drummondville. Acquired by the Olympiques over the trade period, the gritty Arizona Coyotes prospect has 17 points in 28 games with his new team.