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Majors Score Hard Fought Victory in Game Two

April 10, 2011 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Mississauga St. Michael's Majors News Release


Sudbury, ON - The Road to the Cup continued in Sudbury this evening as the Majors travelled north to face the Sudbury Wolves in game two of the Eastern Conference Semi Finals. It was a hard fought game and Alain Valiquette gave the Majors trouble all evening. In the end, the Majors were able to solve Valiquette and took home a 3-2 victory, and a 2-0 lead in the series.

Sudbury came out strong in the first period with several good chances early. JP Anderson was calm and positionally sound as usual, keeping the game scoreless. The Majors controlled the pace of play for most of the period but Valiquette was equally strong in net for the Wolves, keeping the Majors off the board. Sudbury regained control late in the period with several more chances but Anderson was up to the task again. The Majors outshot the Wolves 18-10 in the first period but the score at the end of one was 0-0. Maxim Kitsyn took an interference penalty at 19:22 to give the Wolves the man advantage to close out the first, and to start the second.

Twenty-three seconds into the second period, the Wolves made the Majors pay for the Kitsyn penalty. Marcus Foligno scored his first goal of the playoffs with Eric O'Dell and Michael Sgarbossa collecting the assists, making it 1-0 Sudbury. At 8:36, the Majors handed Sudbury another powerplay opportunity when Riley Brace took a kneeing penalty as a result of a collision with Foligno. After successfully killing that penalty off, Chris DeSousa took a hooking penalty at 11:01 to give the Wolves another powerplay opportunity. The Majors killed off that penalty as well though. Sudbury finally took their first penalty of the game at 13:48 when Foligno was sent to the box for slashing. It turned out to be the Wolves who would score while Foligno was in the box though. Marc Cantin took a shot that broke his stick and while he was getting a replacement from the Majors bench, the Wolves broke in on a three on one and scored a shorthanded goal at 15:42 to make it 2-0. O'Dell had the goal, his fifth of the post season, while Josh McFadden and Mike Lomas had the assists. Just over a minute later, Justin Shugg answered back for Mississauga. Shugg took a shot from an odd angle at 16:59 that found the back of the net, making it 2-1. Shugg's third goal of the post season came off a shot taken from the goal line. It was unassisted. Shugg's goal snapped a streak of seven straight goals by the Wolves in the series, dating back to Friday night's game in Mississauga. Shots on goal in the second period were 21-8 in favour of the Majors.

Alain Valiquette had been good all night and he had to be even better early in the third period. The Majors had several great chances early on but Valiquette was strong and kept the Wolves in the lead. As good as Valiquette was, he couldn't hold the lead throughout the third though. Michael Sgarbossa took a slashing penalty at 9:29 that led to the game tying goal. Stuart Percy stepped into the slot and fired the puck past Valiquette to tie the game with his first goal of the post season. Rob Flick and Michael D'Orazio had the assists. It wasn't until the Majors 60th shot of the game that they were able to take the lead. At 14:58, Mika Partanen put a rebound into the back of the net to make it 3-2. It was Partanen's second goal of the playoffs. Kitsyn and Jordan Mayer had the assists. JP Anderson had to make several big saves late to preserve the lead for the Majors. Valiquette was pulled with a minute left and the extra attacker generated some good chances for the Wolves. However, that all ended with 11 seconds left when Sgarbossa took a slashing penalty on Brett Flemming, leaving the Wolves shorthanded and taking the face off down the ice into the Wolves zone. The clock ran down after that and the Majors celebrated a hard fought 3-2 victory. Mississauga outshot Sudbury 24-6 in the final frame.

Anderson made 22 saves on the night in the game two victory, his sixth victory of the post season. Valiquette made 60 saves on 63 shots, taking the loss but he was awarded the first star for his 60 save performance. The games other two stars were O'Dell (3rd) and Partanen (2nd).

The Majors will be looking to take a 3-0 series lead on Tuesday night at the Hershey Centre when the two teams meet in game three of the series. Game time is 7:00 PM and tickets are available at the Hershey Centre box office, or by visiting ticketmaster.ca.

Earlier today, the Majors announced that 500 tickets for each round robin game and the semi-final of the 2011 MasterCard Memorial Cup will be on sale Monday, April 18 at 10:00 AM. Fans can purchase these tickets by visiting the Hershey Centre box office or by logging on to ticketmaster.ca.

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