MONTREAL -- Team captain Patrick Delisle-Houde scored the insurance goal and added a helper as the McGill University men's hockey team drew first blood, skating to a suffocating 3-1 playoff victory over the UQTR Patriotes at McConnell Arena, Wednesday.

McGill, which stretched their win streak to seven, now leads the OUA East best-of-three affair 1-0 and is in position to sweep the series on Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. in Trois-Rivieres. If a rubber match is needed, it is slated for Sunday night at 7 p.m. back in Montreal.

It was arguably the team's most complete effort this season as the Redmen had a 30-21 edge in shots on net, blocked 23 shots on defence, went 36-22-1 on faceoffs and snuffed out all four UQTR power-play opportunities, limiting the Pats to just two shots with the extra attacker.

"Part of our identity is playing with discipline and structure and I thought we did that for 60 minutes," said McGill head coach Kelly Nobes, who improved to 203-90-3 in 296 games behind the McGill bench. "It showed in all three zones and on our penalty-kill. Everybody was on their game tonight. We played hard, the right way and played for each other and that's playoff hockey."

After a scoreless opening period, it took only 111 seconds for the Redmen to strike in the middle frame. Defenceman Francis Lambert-Lemay of Saint Ours, Que., converted passes from Delisle-Houde and Simon Tardif-Richard by floating a knuckleball-type shot from the left-side boards, near the top of the faceoff circle, that somehow found the open top right corner. It was only the second career goal -- and first playoff marker -- in 115 games overall for the economics junior.

The Pats responded less than three minutes later when Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau of Otterburn Park, Que., connected at 4:35. McGill answered back, however, just 71 seconds later, when Rock Regimbald, a junior from Gatineau, Que., tallied what proved to be the game-winner.  Goaltender Louis-Philip Guindon and forward Jerome Verrier drew assists on the play.

Delisle-Houde rounded out the scoring at 11:17 of the middle stanza, with his third of the playoffs, assisted by defenceman Nathanael Halbert and Guillaume Gauthier.

The third period was scoreless.

Guindon, a science freshman from St. Joseph-du-Lac, Que., had a solid outing between the pipes, registering 21 saves for his second playoff victory in as many outings. UQTR netminder Sebastien Auger was beaten three times on 30 shots and took the loss, dropping to 2-2 in post-season play.

REDMEN RAP: Eight different players have now found the back of the net for McGill in their three playoff games... Leading the way, with three apiece, is Delisle-Houde and Gauthier...   It took three decades but McGill has finally got a winning record in playoff games at home against the Patriotes. The Redmen are now 12-11 lifetime at McConnell Arena and 6-16 in 24 post-season confrontations at Trois-Rivieres...  McGill has won four of five matchups with the Pats this season, sweeping a pair of preseason games 6-2 and 2-1. In the regular campaign, UQTR won 3-1 in Montreal (Oct. 22) but the Redmen took the rematch 6-5 in Trois-Rivieres (Nov. 5).... The game was a bit of reunion for three McGill players and five Patriotes who played on the same team last month, helping Canada win bronze at the FISU Winter Games in Kazakhstan... Senior Mathieu Pompei returned to the lineup after missing seven games, five at the aforementioned Games and two playoff encounters while recovering from injury.... Among the former Redmen spotted in the crowd were Alain Robichaud, Alexis Millette, Martin Routhier, Jocelyn Perreault, Todd Hanrahan, Ken Covo, Dr. Jay McMullan and Mike Nelson.


LINK TO OUA PLAYOFF SCOREBOARD

LINK TO COMPLETE BOXSCORE

OUA EAST SEMIFINAL (GAME 1)
SCORING SUMMARY
UQTR 1 at McGill 3
(Wednesday, February 22, 2017 - McConnell Arena)

GOALS BY PERIOD:
UQTR 0-1-0 -- 1
McGill 0-3-0 -- 3

1st Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Tardif-Richard Mcg (hooking), 18:15.

2nd Period-
1, McGill, Francis Lambert-Lemay 1 (Tardif-Richard, Delisle-Houde), 1:51.
2, UQTR, Gabryel Paquin-Boudreau 1 (Lemay, Poudrier), 4:35.
3, McGill, Rock Regimbald 1 (Verrier, Guindon), 5:46.
4, McGill, Patrick Delisle-Houde 3 (Halbert, Gauthier), 11:17.

Penalties-Lambert-Lemay Mcg (hooking), 16:46; Lalonde Mcg (high sticking), 20:00.

3rd Period-
(No Scoring).

Penalties-Boutet Mcg (high sticking), 5:38; Beaudoin Uqtr (high sticking), 11:50.

Shots on Goal-
UQTR 8-6-7 -- 21.
McGill 9-11-10 -- 30.

Power Play Opportunities-
UQTR 0 / 4;
McGill 0 / 1.

Goalies-
UQTR, Sebastien Auger (L, 2-2-0, 30 shots-27 saves; 58:26).
McGill, Louis-Philip Guindon (W, 2-0-0, 21 shots-20 saves; 60:00).

Attendance: 375
Start: 7:01 PM
End: 9:11 PM
Length: 2:10

Referees-Jesse Gour, Jonathan Alarie.
Linesmen-Guillaume Brunelle, Maxime Chaput.

THREE STARS:
1. MCG - 28 Patrick Delisle-Houde
2. MCG - 35 Louis-Philip Guindon
3. MCG - 13 Etienne Boutet