Smith’s hat trick powers Screaming Eagles to third straight win
Delcan Smith recorded his second hat trick of the season to lead the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles to a 4-1 win over the Chicoutimi Saguenéens at the Centre Georges-Vézina, Friday.
The Screaming Eagles have won four of their last five games, including a 6-1 win over the Quebec Remparts in Quebec City on Thursday.
Cape Breton opened the scoring at 12:41 of the first period with Russian Egor Sokolov netting his 15th goal of the season, but Chicoutimi answered shortly after with a Ryan
Smith shorthanded marker before the opening frame was complete.
The Screaming Eagles regained the lead midway through the second period with Smith’s 10th of the season.
Smith, an Antigonish native, would add two more goals in the third period, including an empty-net goal at 17:46 of the period, to complete the hat trick, giving the Screaming Eagles the win.
Kyle Jessiman made 22 saves for Cape Breton. Rookie Alexis Shank stopped 27 of 30 shots for Chicoutimi.
Cape Breton outshot Chicoutimi 31-23 in the game, while going 0-for-3 with the man advantage. The Saguenéens went 0-for-4 on the power play.
The Screaming Eagles will wrap up their three-game Quebec road trip today when they play the Baie-Comeau Drakkar at 5 p.m. at the Centre HenryLeonard in Baie-Comeau.
Cape Breton and BaieComeau last met on Sunday with the Screaming Eagles defeating the Drakkar 5-2 at Centre 200 in Sydney.
Following today’s game, the Screaming Eagles will host the Quebec Remparts at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.