Post by QC Mike on Apr 18, 2024 18:38:34 GMT -7
Quad Cities made their final trip across the pond to visit the Daggers in Chelsea looking to recover from a sweep by the Brandon Moose and keep their slim playoff hopes alive. A rather tentative, back and forth start was shattered when Quarrymen James van Riemsdyk's snap shot eluded Spencer Martin and the visitors were up by one. The listless affair continued until just after the eleven minute mark when Josh Morrissey picked up a loose puck behind his own net and went end, beating Martin on a little forehand shinny to give the visitors the 2-0 lead that they carried into the intermission. The listless affair looked to continue until Colin Miller caught K'Andre Miller with a hit that had the Quad Cities bench calling for executions, K Miller off to the dressing room, and roused the referees from their torpor. Off the ensuing face-off Ryan Nugent-Hopkins broke in on Martin but a thrown stick prevented RNH from burying the puck so he was awarded a penalty shot. RNH's forehand-backhand move looked great but the shot was high and wide. Less than a minute later Blake Lizotte was sent off for hooking. Shortly after killing that infraction, Marcus Pettersson was whistled for holding. Part way through that kill, Yakov Trenin and Charlie McAvoy had a little disagreement that saw them get a couple of minutes rest before Colin Miller was whistled for slashing. The Daggers killed off this penalty parade and after getting their rotations straightened out it was Rafael Harvey-Pinard who snapped one past Alexander Georgiev at 13:36 to cut the visitor's lead to one. A few minutes later Harvey-Pinard played set up man as Richard Rakell knots things up at twos. Shortly afterwards Nick Schmaltz was denied on a glorious opportunity and this time the cries for a penalty shot were denied. 2-2 after two. The third period saw K'Andre Miller return to the Quad Cities bench as the visitors attempted to regain their momentum and get back to playing their game. What they got back to was some listles hockey until Blake Lizotte's stick broke entering the Q-Men's zone. Cale Makar sprung a streaking Kevin Fiala on the breakaway and he buried the wrister five hole to give Quad Cities the lead. Off the ensuing face-off, Josh Morrisey's feed was converted by Dylan Cozens and bing-bang-boom the Quarrymen were back up by two. Less than two minutes later Harvey-Pinard caught Nugent-Hopkins in a battle of the hyphens that saw RNH helped to the dressing room. Quad Cities General Manager Stephen Johns stated after the game that if required, Nugent-Hopkins could have returned. With Rasmus Ristolainen off for DoG, Kevin Fiala buried his second of the period and killed any momentum the Daggers had built up. Charlie McAvoy added an insurance marker with just over a minute to go with Chelsea's Nick Bjugstead getting a consolation marker with sixteen seconds remaining. Quad Cities skating away with the spoils 6-3.
Quad Cities 6 (8 chances on 40 shots) vs Chelsea 3 (7 chances on 30 shots)
1. Fiala (QCQ) - 2G, 2 chances on 6 shots
2. Morrissey (QCQ) - 1G, 1A, 1 chance on 2 shots
3. Harvey-Pinard (CHD) - 1F, 1A, 2 chances on 2 shots, 1 BOOM lowered
The rematch back at the Quad Cities Qualcomm Quonset Hut had barely started with most fans still making their way to their seats when Johnathon Marchessault lit the lamp 23 seconds in and gave the visitors the lead. About five minutes later with the two teams playing four a side, Chelsea's Juuso Parssinen used the extra ice to build up a head of steam and rear end a (Shane) Pinto. Amazingly Pinto was able to stay on the ice but was clearly hampered by the hit. Just after the halfway point of the frame, Will Borgen caught Taylor Hall trying to sneak in along the boards and stapled him to the wall for his efforts. Surprisingly it was then Shane Pinto who opened the scoring for the Quarrymen at 13:12 when Cale Makar and Josh Morrisey's seeing eye passes set up Pinto all alone in front for the easy tap in to level the score. Less than a minute later Makar lit the lamp,creeping in from the point and cranking Teuvo Terravainen's feed past Spencer Martin to put the home side ahead. Then, with less than two minutes left in the period and Dominik Kubalik off for hooking, Ivan Provorov's seeing eye shot got through everyone and beat an unsuspecting Spencer Martin and send the Q-Men in up 3-1. The second period saw both sides play a careful (boring) period with only an insane individual effort from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins injecting any energy into the frame. That goal giving Quad Cities a 4-1 lead to nurse into the third. Just over two minutes into the third, Dylan Cozens converted the feed from Kevin Fiala to extend the lead to 5-1. Chelsea had a chance to get back in to it when Cale Makar's stick broke on an attempted clearing pass but Jaycob Megna was unable to beat Alexander Georgiev. Claude Giroux added a sixth at the six minute mark and the home side was able to skate out the win to chants of "We want Whitey's!" Quad Cities 6-1.
Chelsea 1 (4 chances on 26 shots) vs Quad Cities 6 (10 chances on 36 shots)
1. Makar (QCQ) - 1G, 4A, GWG, 1 chance on 4 shots
2. Nugent-Hopkins (QCQ) - 1G, 1A, 2 chances on 4 shots
3. Morrissey (QCQ) - 2A, 2 shots