Matt Murphy scored the eventual game wining goal and Jerome Verrier scored two as the Quebec Remparts took a 5-2 decision in Game 3 Tuesday night at Eastlink Centre.
Holding a 2-1 lead after two periods, Murphy scored just two seconds after the Islanders killed off a double-minor high sticking penalty to Ross Johnston.
“I thought he fell pretty easily,” said Johnston. “I wasn’t even sure if it was my stick that hit him but anyways coming out of the box after a big kill it hurts. I thought we responded well, just a few bounces didn’t go our way.”
Johnston was called for the double minor with 1:05 left in first period and it carried over the second period.
The Remparts take a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
“It’s definitely not where we want to be,” said Johnston. “With that being said we are going to regroup and believe in our game come Thursday and take it game-by-game and see what happens.”
Islanders forward Daniel Sprong tallied both goal for Charlottetown. He said the team has faced lots of adversity in the series.
“They want to keep diving and we just got to play our game. We are going to put this behind us and get ready for Thursday night. We know what to do, we know what’s expected. We can’t touch them with our sticks because they’ll be flopping everywhere. We just got to play our game and stay out of the box.”
Sprong opened the scoring at the 5:47 mark with a power play marker for his fifth of the playoffs and first of the series. Bradley Kennedy and Filip Chlapik drew assists.
The Remparts tied the game with Verrier’s fifth of the playoffs on the power play at 10:45. Ryan Graves and Nikolas Brouillard drew assists.
Verrier struck again at 14:19 for his second of the game to give the Remparts a 2-1 lead scoring on his own rebound. Massimo Carozza drew the lone assist.
Murphy’s second period goal came at 2:57 into the second period with Dmytro Timashov and Kurt Etchegary drawing assists.
The Remparts took a 4-1 lead at 15:38 with Adam Erne’s league-leading 11th goal of the playoffs. Etchegary drew the lone assist.
Sprong cut the Remparts lead in half with his second of the game at 19:58 with a power play goal. A loose puck was sitting in the crease and Sprong was there put home his sixth of the playoffs. Johnston and Chlapik drew assists.
Remparts’ Guillaume Gauthier wrapped up the scoring at 13:32 of the third period with his third of the playoffs, blowing a one-timer down low on Islanders goalie Daryl MacCallum. Marc-Olivier Roy drew the lone assist.
Zachary Fucale made 30 saves in the win for Quebec. MacCallum made 34 saves in the loss.
Game 4 goes Thursday April 16 at the Eastlink Centre at 7 p.m.
Johnston said the Islanders have to believe in their game.
“I thought we deserved better fate tonight…we are going to come back strong Thursday and take it one game at a time.”
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