Eagles fall to Wildcats
Moncton uses balanced attack in 7-2 home win over Cape Breton
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tasted defeat on the road for the first time this young Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season.
The Eagles headed to Moncton sporting a 2-0 road record but the Wildcats were too much Tuesday night, getting goals from seven different players to beat Cape Breton 7-2 and remain a perfect 3-0 on home ice.
The Wildcats struck early when leading scorer Mika Cyr beat Eagles netminder Kyle Jessiman on the power play for his fourth of the campaign. Peyton Hoyt’s first of the season put Cape Breton on the board and sent the teams to the locker rooms tied 1-1 at the end of the first.
Eagles leading scorer Drake Batherson, who signed an entry-level contract with the Ottawa Senators earlier in the day, put his third of the year past goalie Matthew Waite to give his team its only lead of
the game. But it was all Wildcats from there, as the home team used a balanced attack to blow past the visitors. Less than a minute later, Jacob Hudson knotted things up before Simon Le Coultre scored the eventual
game-winner to close out the frame.
Moncton pulled away in the final period, getting tallies from Julien Tessier, Daniil Kuzmin, Jacob Arsenault and Jakob Pelletier. Mark Grametbauer relieved Waite in net early in the third, saving all three Eagles shots he faced. Jessiman stopped 25 of 32 shots in his first loss of the season, while Waite turned aside 12 shots for his first win.
It was the second defeat of the season for the Eagles (3-20-0), who are coming off a 3-1 home loss to Saint John Sea Dogs on Sunday.
The team’s four-game road trip continues Thursday night when they take on the Rimouski Océanic. The Eagles then play the Shawinigan Cataractes and Drummondville Voltigeurs on Saturday and Sunday before returning to Cape Breton to face Charlottetown at Centre 200 on Wednesday at 7 p.m.