Vets lead the way
Ellis, Desruisseaux, Casey have big nights as Isles blank Herd
Colten Ellis made 25 stops to record his first shutout as a Charlottetown Islander Friday as they blanked the Mooseheads 5-0 in Halifax.
“The boys definitely made my job a lot easier tonight,” the 20-year-old Ellis told The Chronicle Herald after the game. “They helped me out a lot, blocking shots, doing everything right as a team. We’ve been on a good roll to start the season. We are playing a great style of hockey, hopefully we can keep it going.”
The Islanders other two overage players, Cédric Desruisseaux and Thomas Casey, also played prominent roles in the victory with each recording two goals and an assist.
“They are two great hockey players,” Ellis said. “I played against them the last three years and you are on your toes all the time when you’re playing against them.”
Defeceman Noah Laaouan, a Halifax native, also scored in the victory. Brett Budgell had two assists while singles went to Will Trudeau, Sam Oliver,
Patrick LeBlanc and Lukas Cormier.
Cole McLaren was tagged with the loss after allowing four goals on 26 shots in 40 minutes. Brady James stopped 12 of 13 shots in relief.
The Islanders, who held 3-0 and 4-0 period leads, went 2-for-4 on the power play and killed off all eight Moosehead power plays.
The Islanders will play their first home game Friday when the Saint John Sea Dogs (11-1-1) come to town. Game time is 7 p.m.
Charlottetown went 4-10-0 on the road to start the season as the Eastlink Centre was prepped for the hockey season after being used as the COVID-19 testing clinic during the spring and summer.
The Isles are second in the Maritimes Division behind only the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (5-0-0-1), who blasted the Cape Breton Eagles 8-1 on Saturday. Summerside left-winger Bennett MacArthur had a goal and an assist for the Titan while Mermaid defenceman Cole Larkin had a goal and Portage blue-liner Zach Biggar was a plus-3.
St-Rafael’s Chad Arsenault had the night off after stopping 31 shots Friday in a 6-4 win over Cape Breton. Arsenault is 4-1 with a 2.13 goals-against average through five games with the Titan.