It had to happen eventually.
The Halifax Mooseheads lost their first game of the QMJHL season on Wednesday, dropping a 6-2 decision to the Quebec Remparts in front of 6,451 fans at the Centre Videotron in Quebec City.
The Mooseheads fell behind early, giving up first-period goals to Aleksei Sergeev and Louis-Filip Cote. Halifax’s Samuel Asselin found the top corner later in the period to make it 2-1 but the Remparts stretched their lead to 4-1 in the second.
Oliver Mathieu and Cote both scored from the low slot midway through the period to put Quebec in full control. Halifax’s Antoine Morand answered with his second shorthanded goal of the season to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes but the Remparts pulled away with another goal from the slot.
Phillip Kurashev snapped a shot into the Halifax net 8:50 into the third after a nice feed from Cote and Sergeev rounded out the scoring with an empty-netter. The line of Cote (two goals, three assists), Kurashev (one goal, two assists) and Sergeev (two goals, two assists) finished with 12 points.
Dereck Baribeau stopped 25 shots for Quebec and Alexis Gravel made 27 saves for Halifax.
Halifax’s record now stands at 4-1 and Quebec improves to 4-2.
The Mooseheads’ next game of their three-game road trip is on Friday against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens. They also face the red hot Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Saturday afternoon. The Drakkar lead the league with a 5-0-0-1 record.
Notes: Jared McIsaac, Samuel Dube, Kyle Petten, Joel Bishop, Raphael Lavoie and Ostap Safin did not play for Halifax because of injuries. ... The CHL announced on Wednesday the 2020 Memorial Cup will be hosted by the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets. ... The Mooseheads were ranked No. 1 in the latest CHL Top 10.
