Screaming Eagles can’t close out Olympiques
Cape Breton edged 4-3 by Gatineau, Game 5 goes Friday
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles erased a two-goal deficit in the second period, but came up short in a 4-3 loss to the Gatineau Olympiques on Wednesday at Centre Robert-Guertin.
The win keeps the Olympiques alive in the bestof-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League opening-round series. The Screaming Eagles lead 3-1, with Game 5 set for Friday in Gatineau.
“We’re just going to play our game, and when we play our game, usually things go well,” said Eagles forward Drake Batherson, who finished with a goal and an assist in the loss. “We’re going to stick to that.”
Gatineau jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening period on goals by Yakov Trenin and Vincent Milot-Ouellet on the power play. Jordan Ty Fournier replied for Cape Breton with his second of the post-season late in the frame.
After a Jacob Lapierre goal early in the second, Batherson scored his fourth of the playoffs on the power play to cut the lead in half, a goal that came shortly after one he scored was called back. Giovanni Fiore then struck just as a 5-on-3 advantage had expired to tie the game.
“I thought it was a good goal, but it’s nothing I could do about it and I just had to keep playing,” said Batherson, who leads Cape Breton in scoring these playoffs (four goals, four assists). “It just didn’t go our way tonight.”
But the Olympiques replied with the league’s leading scorer, Vitalii Abramov, who scored his first goal of the series on the doorstep for the game winner at 17:09 of the middle stanza.
The Screaming Eagles had another goal disallowed in the third period by Massimo Carozza. Cape Breton pulled goaltender Kyle Jessiman for the extra attacker in the final minute, but couldn’t
notch the equalizer.
“That’s hockey. Two goals disallowed, it’s part of the game. You get disallowed goals that were scored on you and sometimes, it’s goals you score,” said Screaming Eagles head coach Marc-André Dumont. “The important thing is we’re up 3-1 and the goal is to get the fourth one and we still have that chance on Friday night, so it doesn’t change our ultimate objective to win the series.”
Jessiman made 27 saves in the loss, and his record dropped to 3-1. Tristan Bérubé picked up the win, making 28 stops.
If necessary, the series will shift back to Centre 200 in Sydney for Game 6 and Game 7, April 3 and April 4 respectively.