THE CANADIAN PRESS
SAINT JOHN, N.B. — Facing elimination, the Gatineau Olympiques knew they had to work hard Friday night.
Gatineau staved off elimination with a 3-2 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs in Game 5 of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s President’s Cup final.
Saint John still holds a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven championship series, which continues Sunday in Gatineau, Que.
Christian Ouellet, Adam Janosik and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for the Olympiques, while Philip-Michael Devos had two assists. Gatineau goalie Maxime Clermont made 25 saves.
"We knew coming in tonight that we would battle to the end and that’s exactly what we did," Gatineau head coach Benoit Groulx said. "We wanted to keep the game tight. We know how to do that and we have confidence we can play that way.
"We’ve shown a lot of character and we know it’s going to be another battle on Sunday."
Eric Gelinas and Stephen MacAulay replied for the Sea Dogs and netminder Jacob DeSerres made 20 saves.
Ouellet’s power-play goal gave Gatineau a 1-0 lead at 3:19 of the second period. With the Olympiques applying pressure during their man-advantage opportunity, DeSerres lost his stick. Ouellet gained control of the puck and wired the puck in to the far side of the net.
Janosik put the Olympiques up 2-0 at 11:53 of the second, rushing the puck down the right side and sliding it past DeSerres.
Gelinas’ screen shot from the point pulled Saint John within one with 5:23 left in the second. The Sea Dogs evened the affair with more traffic in front as Kevin Gagne’s point shot was tipped in by MacAulay with 3:22 remaining in the second.
The Sea Dogs applied pressure early in the third period, but Clermont continued to come through. Pageau scored his team-leading 13th playoff goal at the 10-minute mark for the eventual game-winner.
Gatineau defenceman Mathieu Gagnon was called for checking from behind at 16:01, but Clermont had an answer for every Sea Dogs shot.
"There was no work ethic, not enough work ethic," Saint John head coach Gerard Gallant said of his team. "In the two games in Gatineau, we won the battles and we competed and tonight we froze. We didn’t play well at all and it wasn’t our team at all.
"When we won (Games 3 and 4) in Gatineau, we won puck battles and we won foot races, and tonight we didn’t win many of those."
Unlike the fourth game in Gatineau, the Sea Dogs couldn’t take the lead after trailing.
"We didn’t have a good start," MacAulay said. "We didn’t come ready to play at all. We just didn’t want it as much as they did.
"We weren’t skating. We were kind of on our heels. We played not to lose instead of playing to win. When you’re up 3-1 in the series, you can’t let your foot off the gas."
