Trailing coming home
Screaming Eagles fall to Islanders in Game 2
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles head home trailing their best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff series with the Charlottetown Islanders 2-0.
The Screaming Eagles were defeated by the Islanders 5-3 in Game 2 of their series on Saturday at the Eastlink Centre. The team dropped Game 1 of their second round series 4-1 on Thursday in P.E.I.
Cape Breton held a 3-2 lead just past the halfway mark of the third period, before the Islanders scored two goals 55 seconds apart to take the lead and never look back.
Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager MarcAndré Dumont said overall he thought his team played a solid game in most areas.
“We led the play 5-on-5, there is no doubt,” he said. “I think we played a much stronger game than last game.”
“After two periods the game was right on table and we took the lead in the third and I think we deserved to take the lead,” said Dumont. “That’s the way hockey is, a couple of plays and they were up. Our only focus is to bounce back in Game 3 on Tuesday.”
Daniel Sprong started the scoring for the Islanders early in the first period with his
fourth goal of the playoffs on the power play.
The Screaming Eagles would lose a defenceman shortly after the Sprong goal when Marcus Tesink collided knee-on-knee with Islanders’ forward François Beauchemin.
Tesink remained on the ice and was later helped to the dressing room by his teammates and did not return to the game. Beauchemin received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing.
Dumont had little to say about Tesink, noting it’s a lower-body injury.
Cape Breton tied the game with a goal coming off the stick of Jordan Ty Fournier early in the second period, but Charlottetown would answer with Sprong scoring his second of the game, on the power play to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. Declan Smith would tie the game less than a minute later, sending the teams into the intermission tied.
The Screaming Eagles took a 3-2 lead just past the fourminute mark of the third period with Giovanni Fiore sneaking his sixth goal of playoffs past Islanders goalie Mark Grametbauer, who was named the games third star.
Charlottetown tied the game at 11:28 of the final frame with Nicolas Meloche finding the back of the net, before Kameron Kielly gave the Islanders the lead 55 seconds later. Adam Marsh sealed the deal scoring into an empty net late in the period.
Grametbauer made 37 saves for the Islanders, improving his playoff record to 6-0. Kyle Jessiman stopped 23 of 27 shots for the Screaming Eagles.
Cape Breton out-shot the Islanders 40-28 in the contest, while going 0-for-6 on the power play and allowing two power goals to Charlottetown.
Dumont said there are areas where the team can improve.
“It’s on the special units that we need to improve and do better, and if we do that we’re going to be able to take it to them,” said Dumont. “We can improve on them two elements and that’s going to be our main focus for Game 3, we want to do better in those areas.”
The series will now shift to Sydney for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Puck drop for both games is set for 7 p.m. at Centre 200.