Saint John endures, Edmonton blasted: CHL finals

Zack Phillips was in the right place at the right time on Friday night.

Phillips scored at 10:18 of double-overtime to lift the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 3-2 win over the Rimouski Oceanic in Game 1 of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s President’s Cup final Friday.

Phillips scored off of defenceman Charles-Olivier Roussel’s rebound as the puck bounced toward the Sea Dogs forward.

"I knew it was in, but the [defenceman] kind of batted it back out of the net," said Phillips. "I saw it drop over the goal-line and obviously I went pretty crazy from there.

"I saw the puck just laying there and I just tried to pull it out and get it up as quick as I could."

Nathan Beaulieu and Tomas Jurco scored for the Sea Dogs, while Saint John goalie Mathieu Corbeil stopped 41 of 43 shots. Phillips also had an assist.

"You have to get the puck to the net as much as you can in overtime, and sometimes we shy away from that because our team is so skilled and we make too many fancy plays," said Phillips. "Pretty much all of our overtime goals so far have been guys going to the net and working hard."

Peter Trainor and Alex Belzile scored for the Oceanic, while Alexandre Mallet tallied two assists. Rimouski netminder Jacob Gervais-Chouinard stopped 40 of 43 shots.

Saint John had a two-goal lead early in the first after Beaulieu scored 45 seconds into the game and Jurco made it 2-0, just 27 seconds later.

Rimouski rallied on the power play in the second. Saint John’s Danick Gauthier was called for high-sticking at 4:59, setting the stage for Trainor’s power-play goal 53 seconds later.

Beaulieu was sent off for tripping at 12:46, paving the way for Belzile’s power-play goal 34 seconds later.

"We played great for the first 10 or 12 minutes and from there, it was pretty loose," said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant. "We didn’t keep that tempo up and we have to keep that tempo up. It’s the final and we have to battle harder than that. We gave them way too many chances and we can’t play like that."

Rimouski defenceman Casey Babineau was called for tripping at 13:22 of the third, but the Dogs couldn’t capitalize on the ensuing power play. The 20-minute overtime that followed saw Rimouski fire 13 shots at Corbeil, while Gervais-Chouinard made seven saves.

The best-of-seven series continues Saturday.

WHL: Portland 5, Edmonton 1

The Portland Winterhawks relied on two scorers and their goaltender to win on Friday.

Brendan Leipsic and Calgary Flames prospect Sven Bartschi each scored twice and Mac Carruth made 38 saves as Portland defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings 5-1 to even their Western Hockey League final at a game apiece.

Taylor Peters also scored for the Winterhawks, who improved to 8-2 this post-season when scoring first.

Kristians Pelss tapped in a rebound off Martin Gernat's shot early in the third for Edmonton's lone goal. Laurent Brossoit made 22 saves for the Oil Kings.

"We generated off the rush much better," said Portland head coach Mike Johnston. "We were able to come through the middle, and hinder the wide lane. We were able to hit the space in behind … we had I think four 2-on-1's. It forces the other team to adjust a bit."

Carruth was impressive all night. He stopped Rhett Rachinski in the first, twice made a glove save on defenceman Keegan Lowe in the second, and made a solid right pad save late in the third on Edmonton's Mark Pysyk.

"It was pretty even in the first period," said Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal. "A bad pinch cost us a goal. In the second, we made a couple other mistakes and they capitalized. I thought that was the difference in the game. When they made a mistake, Carruth was outstanding. Have to give credit to Portland, they played hard missing one of their leading scorers."

Portland's Ty Rattie, who was hit hard into the side boards in Game 1 by Mitch Moroz, missed the game with an upper body injury. He has 17 goals during the playoffs, two shy of the franchise record (19) currently held by Dan Woodley in the 1987 post-season.

Bartschi now has 10 goals and 28 points in the playoffs, while Derrick Pouliot's assist on Bartschi's goal midway through the second put him in the lead among defencemen in the post-season with 14 points.

Johnston said Rattie will be re-evaluated for Sunday for Game 3 in Portland and stressed the injury was not a concussion.

The Winterhawks have only lost one game this post-season in eight played on home ice.