Islanders ready for another test
Charlottetown begins three-game Quebec road trip tonight at league-leading Sherbrooke
The Charlottetown Islanders will get a chance to measure themselves tonight against the best team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
The Sherbrooke Phoenix host the Islanders at 8 p.m. Atlantic. Sherbrooke was 19-2-2-0 before playing in Drummondville, Que., on Friday while Charlottetown was ranked fifth in the 18-team league with a 14-74-0 record.
“It’s exciting,” Islanders head coach Jim Hulton said. “We have a lot of Quebec-based players that get an opportunity to play in front of family and friends, which only happens a few times a year, so (there will be) a little extra adrenaline in the system.”
The Islanders have two goalies, six defencemen and 12 forwards on the trip with Lukas Cormier and Nikita Alexandrov out with foot injuries and forward Keiran Gallant sidelined with a broken collarbone that required surgery. The team will have a few of its Quebec prospects on standby in case of another injury.
The team also plays Sunday at 4 p.m. in Quebec and Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. in Rimouski, Que.
The Islanders went through a stretch of inconsistent play earlier this month but have strung together some strong showings and have won back-to-back games against tough teams in Moncton and Baie-Comeau.
Hulton said the results show that when it plays to its identity it can be successful regardless who is in the lineup.
“I think collectively we fell victim to feeling sorry for ourselves and maybe using that as a bit of a crutch,” he said. “Not only did we have injuries, but it looked like we had no systems and no identity.”
He said it was a case of players trying to do too much instead of playing together and making simple plays.
“You don't get into a slump quickly and you don't get out of it quickly and I think it looks like we’re finally out of it,” the bench boss said. “We’ve had adversity, we’ve had injuries, but we know a lot about our team.”
The Phoenix had outscored their opponents 103-52 and had gone 8-1-1-0 before Friday’s game. Felix Robert leads the team with 38 points in 20 games while Samuel Poulin, a Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick, has 37 points in 21 games.
Kevin Gursoy leads the active Islanders in points with 21 points in 24 games followed by Brett Budgell with 18 points in 25 games.
Slovakian goalie Samuel Hlavaj has a 12-1-2-0 record for the Phoenix with a 2.05 goalsagainst average (GAA) and .927 save percentage. The Isles’ Matthew Welsh has a 11-6-2-0 record, 2.53 GAA and .907 save percentage.