The Halifax Mooseheads started their latest road trip on the right foot on Wednesday.
Raphael Lavoie scored a pair of power-play goals to give the Mooseheads a 4-1 win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada to open a three-game swing through Quebec.
"Right off the get-go we were engaged," said Halifax head coach J.J. Daigneault. "They played the right way, they managed the puck well through the neutral zone and our defencemen defended really well around the net. They came up with good speed and they were trying to stretch the ice with long passes but it was a good effort by our guys."
After Samuel Dube opened the scoring for the Mooseheads on a rebound goal 4:06 into the first period, Lavoie gave them some breathing room six minutes later. The veteran winger found the net on a hard shot from the top of the circle to make it 2-0.
Armada defenceman Samuel Bolduc hammered a one-timer in on a two-man advantage later in the period to cut the lead to 2-1.
After a scoreless second period, Lavoie restored the two-goal cushion with less than seven minutes remaining in the third period on another scoring play from his off wing. Captain Bo Groulx provided some insurance on the power play with 62 seconds left.
The Mooseheads finished the night three-for-six with the man advantage and killed all but one of the Armada's nine power plays. Cole McLaren was sharp in a 38-save performance for Halifax and Emile Samson stopped 39 shots for Blainville-Boisbriand.
"Our special teams were really good," Daigneault said. "Our shots were good on the PP. I think in the past couple of games, we took some shots that weren't really available to us. But tonight we had good net presence and on top of that we took good, quality shots. Our execution was good finding the lanes for our shots.
"On the PK, the guys did well. On the penalty kill your best player has to be your goalie and Cole was on top of his game. He was square to the puck all night and he made some big saves. And on top of that, our D-men played really well. They sacrificed the body and blocked a lot of shots for us. That's another reason the PK did so well."
The win is the Mooseheads' second in a row and improves their record to an even 10-10-1-0. The Armada fall to 9-10-1-1
The Mooseheads' next game of the road trip in on Friday against the Val-d'Or Foreurs. They play the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies on Saturday.
Notes: Walter Flower, Jared McIsaac and Cole Foston did not play for Halifax because of injuries and Gavin Hart was a healthy scratch. ... The AHL's Providence Bruins called up former Mooseheads winger Samuel Asselin from the ECHL's Atlant Gladiators on Wednesday. Asselin had 14 points in nine games with the Gladiators.
