Playing spoiler

Moncton ruins Charlottetown’s season and home opener with road victory

Once the Moncton Wildcats and the Charlottetown Islanders got their ya-yas out it turned into a pretty good Quebec Major Junior hockey League game Friday in Charlottetown.

Moncton got the upper hand, however, in a 3-1 win at Eastlink Centre on goals by Summerside’s Jeremy McKenna, Daniil Kuzmin and an empty-netter by Liam Dunda.

Gregor MacLeod netted the Islanders score in a game that started with noticeable nerves as both sides played tentative.

By the second period that changed as the teams relaxed and played hockey in the first game of the season for both squads.

“It’s good (to get that first win). We had a little bit of nerves off the start, but that’s to be expected. We played well the rest of the game,” said MacKenna, who scored his first of the season with 16 seconds left in the first period. “The big thing was that we worked hard. The work ethic was there, all 20 guys were working hard. We had a couple of turnovers along the wall that we have to put out, but we beared down and got the win.”

Moncton’s Nick Welsh, brother of Isles goaltenders Matt Welsh, chipped in two assists including one on McKenna’s goal.

In the second period dominated by the Islanders, MacLeod tied the game 1-1 almost eight minutes in on a nice tic-tactoe play with Adam Marsh and rookie Nikita Alexandrov.

Things stayed that way until the third when Kuzmin sniped a wrister from the slot on an oddman rush at 6:24 and provided

the winning goal.

With Welsh pulled for the extra attacker 12 minutes later, Dunda potted the insurance goal.

Isles defenceman Taylor Egan was disappointed in the loss, but saw a few bright lights coming out of it.

“We started executing our systems well and all in all it was a good start for us. I think we can improve on that,” said

Egan, named the game’s third star. “I think we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but after 10 minutes into the game we started (to play).”

Welsh (0-1) stopped 25 shots in the loss, while former Islander Mark Grametbauer (1-0) saw 25 shots including 17 in the second frame.

Next up the Isles host the Halifax Mooseheads Saturday. Game time is 3 p.m. at the Link.