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Smith buries overtime winner to give Screaming Eagles a 2-0 series lead over Olympiques
Screaming Eagles need OT to take 2-0 series lead over Olympiques.
For the second straight night, the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles needed extra time to defeat the Gatineau Olympiques.
Delcan Smith’s heroics at 11:51 of overtime powered the Screaming Eagles to a 7-6 win over the Olympiques in front of 3,689 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League fans at Centre 200 on Saturday. The win gives Cape Breton a 2-0 series lead in their in their best-of-seven first round playoff series.
The Screaming Eagles trailed the Olympiques 5-2 in the second period, before battling back, eventually tying the game 6-6 late in the second period.
“I just had a shooting mentality, so I just thought I should do what was right,” Smith said of the winning goal. “I just shot the puck and it ended up going in.”
In Game 1 of the series on Friday, one goal was scored, that coming off the stick of Giovanni Fiore in overtime. On Saturday, the Screaming Eagles and Olympiques combined for 13 goals, including eight of those in the second period.
Smith said that’s playoff hockey.
“It’s so unpredictable,” he said. “One night it’s only one goal, the next night it’s 13, it’s like that in any league, it’s simply playoff hockey.”
Gatineau opened the scoring at the halfway mark of the first period with goals by Zack MacEwen and Jake Barter, 16 seconds apart, to give the Olympiques a 2-0 lead, but the Screaming Eagles would storm back with Leon Gawanke and Drake Batherson netting goals, 15 seconds apart, shortly after.
The second period saw no shortage of goals.
MacEwen gave the Olympiques a 3-2 lead at 2:37 of the middle frame, followed by goals from Sydney’s Mitchell Balmas and Alexandre Landreville, making the score 5-2, ending Kevin Mandolese’s night between the pipes for the Screaming Eagles.
Cape Breton continued to fight back pulling to within one with goals by Ross MacDougall on the power play at 10:42 and Phélix Martineau 18 seconds later.
Gatineau went up 6-4 with Shawn Boudrias scoring three minutes later at 13:55, but the Screaming Eagles, once again, fought back with Batherson notching his second of the game, followed by Massimo Carozza tying the game at 19:37 of the second period.
The third period featured a more defensive style of game with both teams limited scoring chances, sending the contest to overtime, leading to Smith scoring his first career QMJHL playoff goal to give the Screaming Eagles the win.
Mandolese stopped 15 of 20 shots, before being replaced by Kyle Jessiman, who made 17 saves in the game, midway through the second period. Jessiman picked up the win.
Mathieu Bellemare allowed six goals on 35 shots, before being replaced by Tristan Bérubé at the start of the third period. Bérubé made 19 saves in the game and was tagged with the loss.
Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Marc-André Dumont said the decision to start Mandolese over Jessiman in Game 2 was made before the series began.
“We had decided to split the first weekend and we followed our plan, and that plan brought us to seventh place in the regular season,” he said.
Cape Breton forward Massimo Carozza said despite the team being down in the second period, the club never gave up.
“Every time we are down, we just put our heads down and keep working hard,” said the 20-year-old. “When we came back it was a team effort and we’re happy that we got the win.”
The series will now shift to Gatineau, Que., for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively. Puck drop for Tuesday’s game is set for 8:30 p.m. at the Robert Guertin Centre.
Game 5 of the series, if necessary, will be played on Friday in Gatineau. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, are scheduled for April 3 and April 4 in Sydney.