Fucale extends shutout streak to 132:27 as Mooseheads take 2-0 series lead

Saturday, 04.06.2013 / 10:34 PM The Canadian Press

Zachary Fucale made 13 saves, extending his shutout streak to 132 minutes 27 seconds, as his Halifax Mooseheads blanked the visiting Gatineau Olympiques 5-0 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

The 17-year-old has earned back-to-back shutouts against Gatineau to take a 2-0 series lead in the second-round matchup. He hasn't allowed anything past him since the 7:33 mark of the third period in Game 4 of Halifax's first-round sweep of the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Fucale, who is NHL draft eligible this summer, hasn't given up more than one goal in any of his six starts in the post-season and leads the league with a 0.67 goals-against average and .961 save percentage.

Stefan Fournier and Brent Andrews each had a goal and an assist for the Mooseheads, who won Game 1 on Friday 7-0, while Andrew Ryan, Luca Ciampini and Stephen MacAulay had the others.

Fournier has picked up a point in all six playoffs games he's played and leads Halifax with six goals and 14 points. MacAulay has scored in four straight games.

Konrad Abeltshauser picked up two assists for the Mooseheads as Jonathan Drouin and Nathan MacKinnon chipped in one apiece. MacKinnon has five assists in the series and has been Halifax's most relied on centreman as he's taken a team-high 40 faceoffs in the two games, winning 68 per cent of them.

Etienne Boutet was on the ice for the Olympiques four times when Halifax scored and is a team-worst minus-6 in the series. Gatineau has gone 156:50 seconds without a goal as its last one came at 3:10 of the second period in Game 6 of its first-round affair with the Rimouski Oceanic.

Gatineau's Robert Steeves took the loss after stopping 33-of-38. Steeves allowed six goals on 25 shots in Game 1 in just two periods of action and has a 6.60 goals-against average and .825 save percentage in the series.

A positive for the Oympiques on Saturday was keeping the Mooseheads scoreless on the power play after giving up five goals on the penalty kill in Game 1. Halifax went 0 for 8 in Game 2 while Gatineau failed to score on five power-play chances.

The 13th-seeded Olympiques have an opportunity to get back in the series on Monday when they host the top-seeded Mooseheads for Game 3 at the Centre Robert-Guertin. Gatineau is 3-0-0 on home ice in the playoffs.

Elsewhere in the QMJHL, it was Baie-Comeau 6, Victoriaville 2; Blainville-Boisbriand 5, Val-d'Or 4 and Quebec 4, Rouyn-Noranda 2.

At Halifax, Ryan opened the scoring 6:47 into the first period and Fournier added another at 18:29 to make it 2-0 Mooseheads after 20 minutes of play.

Each club had two power-play opportunities in the second period, however it stayed a two-goal game heading into the third period.

Ciampini and MacAulay doubled Halifax's lead when they scored 1:46 apart midway through the third.

Gatineau had a great chance to score their first goal of the series when Halifax's Martin Frk took a double-minor for playing with a broken stick at 13:24, but Fucale stopped what little chances the Olympiques came up with.

Andrews made it 5-0 with only 1:19 left in regulation.

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Drakkar 6 Tigres 2

At Baie-Comeau, Que., Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau scored once and set up two more and Petr Straka and Jeremy Gregoire each had two goals as the Drakkar downed the Tigres for a 2-0 series lead. Game 3 of their second-round matchup is set for Monday in Victoriaville.

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Armada 5 Foreurs 4

At Boisbriand, Que., Stefan Matteau broke a 4-4 tie at 11:15 of the third period while on the power play and Christopher Clapperton had a goal and two assists as the Armada have gone up 2-0 against the Foreurs in their second-round series. Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday in Val-d'Or.

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Remparts 4 Huskies 2

At Quebec City, Adam Erne scored twice in the third period and Francois Brassard turned away 27-of-29 shots as the Remparts evened the second-round series against the Huskies at 1-1. Rouyn-Noranda will host Game 3 on Tuesday.

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