Charlottetown blows lead
Mooseheads rally again in third, finish job in overtime
After an overtime loss in Charlottetown on Sunday night, the Halifax Mooseheads were more than happy to return the favour at home on Tuesday, beating the Charlottetown Islanders 6-5.
Like they did two nights earlier, the Herd rallied late in the third period to close a two-goal gap and send the game to overtime.
“The past couple games, we’ve shown we don’t quit no matter what the score is,” Mooseheads goalie Kevin Resop said after Tuesday night’s victory at Scotiabank Centre.
Resop assisted on the gamewinning breakaway goal by Mooseheads centre Joel Bishop less than two minutes into three-on-three overtime – after Otto Somppi tied the game with 13.2 seconds remaining in the third.
“He’s like Mr. Clutch right now,” defenceman Cooper Jones said of Somppi, who finished with two goals and was the game’s first star.
“He keeps putting in the important goals.”
The game was tied 2-2 after the first period while Charlottetown took a 3-2 lead to the third. But Charlottetown couldn’t hang on to a lead, after watching Halifax comeback from down 52 on Sunday.
Samuel Blais said the Islanders need to simplify their game in the third period and hold onto leads.
“It’s unacceptable to lose that game in overtime,” he said.
Barrett Dachyshyn, Andrew Shewfelt and Cooper Jones rounded out the scoring for Halifax. Arnaud Durandeau had two assists while singles went to Walter Flower, Maxime Fortier and Bishop.
Carl Gervais, Mitchell Balmas, Keith Getson, Blais and Shawn Boudrais replied with goals for the Islanders.
Luc Deschenes, Will Thompson, Bradley Kennedy, Daniel Sprong, Oliver Cooper, Guillaume Beaudry, Nicolas Leblond and Gervais all picked up assists.
Resop stopped 34 shots for Halifax while Matthew Welsh made 28 saves for Charlottetown.
The loss puts the Islanders at 15-20-3-2, and brings the Mooseheads to 14-20-5-1. The Islanders host Gatineau Friday at 7 p.m. and Rimouski Saturday at 3 p.m.