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Oceanic beat reeling Remparts, force Memorial Cup tiebreaker

Justin Samson (19) is congratulated for his goal by Charles-David Beaudoin (Aaron Bell, OHL Images)
Justin Samson (19) is congratulated for his goal by Charles-David Beaudoin (Aaron Bell, OHL Images)

Michael Joly reprised his role as a Quebec Remparts killer, and the Rimouski Océanic lived to play at least one more day with a 4-0 Memorial Cup win.

For the first time in 29 years, teams from the same league will meet on back-to-back nights in the round-robin and the tiebreaker game. The composed Océanic, paced by a four-point effort from Joly, seized on the undisciplined, unsettled Remparts for their sixth consecutive win on the Colisée ice over their division rivals in front of a crowd of 10,277, most of whom ducked out well before the final buzzer.

Quebec, whose night could not have gone much worse, saw key forwards Anthony Duclair and Jérome Verrier leave in the third period due to injuries. Star goalie Zach Fucale was relieved after allowing four goals on 25 shots in order to give him rest for Thursday's rematch (7:30 p.m./4:30 p.m. PT, Sportsnet/TVA Sports/BTN livechat). 

Dallas Stars goalie prospect Philippe Desrosiers posted a 27-save shutout for Rimouski.

The winner of the tiebreaker, which will be the 19th game of the season between the rivals, will meet the Kelowna Rockets in Friday's semifinal. The Oshawa Generals have advanced to Sunday's final.

The Océanic mustered a winning effort despite the absence of 44-goal scorer Anthony DeLuca, who was scratched due to illness. DeLuca's replacement, Justin Samson, scored the icebreaker 14:36 into the game on a power play after a string of penalties to both teams, including a four-minute spearing infraction by Tampa Bay Lightning prospect Adam Erne.

Quebec's top-end forwards remained mired in a goal-less funk. Duclair is goal-less in eight games while Verrier (14), Vladimir Tkachev (13 games), Marc-Olivier Roy (eight), Guillaume Gauthier (seven) and Kurt Etchegary (six) are each dragging prolonged oh-fers into the tiebreaker.

Duclair went directly to the dressing room after landing awkwardly and heavily on his right shoulder midway through the third period. Verrier exited with an apparent leg injury, according to Sportsnet.

Rimouski failed to score on any of its three power plays during a chipping opening 20 minutes yet came out ahead 2-0 thanks to Samson's first goal in exactly two months and Joly (1G-3A, +2) striking with 55 seconds left in the period.

Joly, who missed a third of the regular season due to injury, darted through a crease in Quebec's coverage and beat Fucale with a high shot.

The Remparts narrowly missed paring the margin to one when Verrier hit the post in the first minute of the second. The lack of validation might have hastened Quebec's unravelling. Rimouski extended its lead to three courtesy of Florida Panthers prospect Christopher Clapperton on its next power play. Clapperton converted a setup from Toronto Maple Leafs first-rounder Frédérik Gauthier.

Tkachev hit the crossbar behind goalie Philippe Desrosiers on a breakaway later in the sandwich stanza. Following a rather soft roughing penalty against Duclair, Rimouski captain Alexis Loiseau scored another power-play goal at 12:40.

Rimouski was 2-for-6 on the power play. Quebec went 0-for-3.

Fucale came out after the fourth goal, with Callum Booth mopping up.

Rimouski avoided being the first champion from the host league to go 0-3 since the 1985 Verdun Junior Canadiens.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.