Phoenix drop two home games in weekend action
Losing streak extends to seven games
Sherbrooke had two games this past weekend playing against their division rival the Blainville-boisbriand Armada and the Maritimes’ Charlottetown Islanders. The two games ended up handing the Birds their sixth and seventh consecutive losses, moving their recent losing streak up to 0-5-2.
Against the Armada, after falling behind 2-0, Sherbrooke had the lead in the second period going up 3-2 on the visitors thanks to consecutive goals from Benjamin Tardif, Yaroslav Alexeyev and a shorthanded score from Kevin Gilbert.
However, penalties again proved to be costly and the Armada tied the game with just 44 seconds remaining in the second period with a power-play goal to tie it up 3-3 going into the third.
In the third, the Phoenix were forced to change goalies after Evan Fitzpatrick left the game with an apparent shoulder injury. Fitzpatrick had stopped 27-of-30 shots before Brendan Cregan came into the game in relief for the third period.
At 6:17 of the third period Alex Barréboulet scored his second straight goal to take the lead, 4-3, and the Armada would add an empty-netter to finish off the game with a 5-3 win.
The next day against the Islanders it was a tight back-and-forth game between the two teams with the Islanders emerging victorious in overtime, 5-4.
Sherbrooke outshot their opponent from out east to the tune of 38-31. However, penalties again proved costly, this time coming in the form of the ejection of Thomas Grégoire for a five-minute major penalty for boarding late in the third period. Meaning the offensive defenceman wasn’t available for the crucial moments of the game and gave Charlottetown the momentum going into overtime. In overtime, Matthew Grouchy ended the game with a goal on Cregan to end the game. Cregan had 26 saves on 31 shots in the game. Sherbrooke got goals from Félix Robert, Nicolas Poulin and two from Kevin Gilbert in the loss.
The Phoenix next take a trip out east to play three straight Maritimes opponents. The Birds will travel to play the Saint John Seadogs, Moncton Wildcats and finish up the trip against the Halifax Mooseheads. The Mooseheads are currently second-overall in the QMJHL with 25 points, the Wildcats are in seventh with 24 points and the Seadogs sit last in the league at 18th with 13 points. Sherbrooke’s record of 6-8-3-2 has them seeded 15th with 17 points. The Birds also happened to be tied with the Acadie-bathurst Titan for most overtime and shootout losses on the year so far as both teams have lost three games in overtime and two in shootouts.