GAME RECAPS

GAME 1 Outcome

Cape Breton – 2. Charlottetown – 3 OT.

Goals

Cape Breton – Derek Gentile and Mitchell Balmas. Charlottetown – Kevin Gursoy, Daniel Hardie and Brett Budgell.

Assists

Cape Breton – Gabriel Proulx, Leon Gawanke and Kyle Havlena. Charlottetown – Hunter Drew 2, Nikita Alexandrov, Lukas Cormier and Thomas Casey.

Goalies

Cape Breton – Kevin Mandolese, 39 saves on 42 shots. Charlottetown – Matthew Welsh, 41 saves on 43 shots.

Power play

Cape Breton – 0-for-4. Charlottetown – 1-for-5.

Faceoff wins

Cape Breton – 53. Charlottetown – 26.

Attendance – 2,736.

Budgell said: “It’s a great feeling for a lot of reasons. (These) playoffs we’re playing for a lot more than just a win. Our trainer, Kevin Elliott, is going through a tough time. This one definitely goes out to him and all our thoughts and prayers are with him.” Elliott’s wife, Carolyn MacGuigan Elliott, died on Wednesday. A moment of silence was held prior to Friday’s game at the Eastlink Centre.

Cape Breton head coach Marc-André Dumont said:

“This series has started the way it was predicted to be. . . We knew it would be a battle out there from the get-go and that’s what we saw (Friday).”

Injury – Screaming Eagles defenceman Antoine Crete-Belzile left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury after taking a hit from Liam Peyton in the corner of the Cape Breton zone. The 19-year-old, who played for the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada the past three seasons, was making his return to the Cape Breton lineup after missing nine games with an upper-body injury. CreteBelzile didn’t play Game 2.

GAME 2 Outcome

Cape Breton – 4. Charlottetown – 6.

Goals

Cape Breton – Mathias Laferriere, Mitchell Balmas, Leon Gawanke and Kyle Havlena. Charlottetown – Daniel Hardie 2, Kevin Gursoy, Nikita Alexandrov, Lukas Cormier and Zac Beauregard (empty net).

Assists

Cape Breton – Leon Gawanke 2, Egor Sokolov, Mathias Laferriere, Mitchell Balmas and Olivier Bourret. Charlottetown – Daniel Hardie, Kevin Gursoy, Lukas Cormier, Jordan Maher, Nikita Alexandrov, Colin Van Den Hurk, Liam Peyton, Hunter Drew, Drew Johnston and Brett Budgell.

Goalies

Cape Breton – Kevin Mandolese, 28 saves on 33 shots. Charlottetown – Matthew Welsh, 30 saves on 34 shots.

Power play

Cape Breton – 2-for-5. Charlottetown – 0-for-2.

Faceoff wins

Cape Breton – 37. Charlottetown – 27.

Attendance – 2,963.

Cormier said: “The boys did a good job of getting the goalie’s eyes away and I just put the puck at the net and tried not to get it blocked. . . A lot of guys played well. Matt (Welsh) had some great saves, (Brendon Clavelle) with a big block at the end and (Daniel) Hardie had two goals. It was a great team effort.”

Balmas said: “During the game we were down two goals (twice), but we never gave up. There’s no quit and we showed that all year. We’re going to keep going. We’re going to focus on playing a full 60 minutes here coming back on our home ice.”