Adjusting to standard of calls important for Wildcats

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It’s a rare event in playoff hockey to have a pair of five-minute majors against one team in one postseason contest.

Let alone two majors in one period, especially in the third frame of any playoff affair.

But that was the case for the Moncton Wildcats in Game 2 of their opening round QMJHL playoff set against the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at the Avenir Centre.

Trailing 4-3 in the third period and already down 1-0 in the series, Wildcats forwards Yoan Loshing and Vincent Collard, two of the team’s top-three goal scorers in the regular season, each picked up a major penalty.

It played significant factors in limiting the Cats’ offence for half a period when they were down a goal in a critical contest where Chicoutimi ultimately connected with the man advantage to take a 5-3 lead in an eventual 5-4 victory.

As the series shifts to Chicoutimi for Games 3, 4 and if necessary 5 this week, head coach Daniel Lacroix says playing to the adjusting line of what’s acceptable and what’s not is a factor in all playoff games.

It’s generally accepted that there is a new standard when compared to pre-season and regular season, and players have to understand and not exceed the new norms.

Lacroix said that, in Game 1, there was a rise in cross-checking, especially to protect the front of the net. If that was a pre-season game, he argued, maybe 10 penalties would be called. But the playoffs are about adjustment to the evolving standards, which was expected.

He said Collard’s penalty was a penalty, no question, but followed an intense battle between Collard and Jonathan Desrosiers that started behind the net and then moved to the crease area. They both were off balance with one final jostle and that’s when Collard delivered a cross check to Desrosiers’ head.

“You have to look at the actions of the guys who are engaged and you have to match that level of engagement and intensity, but you have to stay below the line,” he said. “That is a hard thing to do.”

“You have to know where the line is as a team, and in Game 1, I didn’t think we did a good job of knowing where that line is, because they brought the line way, way up.”

In the second game, he felt that, for the most part, the Cats adjusted better, with the exception of the Collard play where he received a match penalty, game misconduct and a two-game suspension as a result.

Lacroix felt the Loshing major, which did not result in a suspension, was similar to another hit by Chicoutimi’s Maxim Masse on Caleb Desnoyers in the open ice area that resulted in a minor penalty to the Sags and should have been called as such.

The other big factor in the opening contest, which set the tone, was the Cats power-play, which did not convert any of five chances, a key factor in a 3-0 result.

Moncton produced a franchise record 28.50 percent on the powerplay in the regular season but entered Tuesday’s third game with one goal in nine chances – 11.1 percent.

“After the first game, if we score on special teams, it would have made a difference,” Lacroix said. “I thought we moved the puck pretty well on the power play and we scored a big power-play goal in Game 2. After the second game, though, we were talking about the importance of playing hard but playing on the line and staying disciplined.”