Big weekend for surging Islanders
Charlottetown hands Acadie-Bathurst its first regulation-time loss
BATHURST, N.B. – The Charlottetown Islanders continued to surge in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League over the weekend.
The Islanders won backto-back games to extend their winning streak to five games. Charlottetown trimmed the Halifax Mooseheads 7-1 on Friday night and defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 4-2 on Saturday. It was the Titan’s first regulation-time loss of the 2020-21 season.
The Islanders, who are 8-1-0-0 (won-lost-overtime losses-shootout losses), are now tied with the Titan (71-1-1) for first place in the Maritimes Division.
Charlottetown returns to action on Friday in Halifax against the Mooseheads (3-52-0), before returning home to host the Moncton Wildcats (3-4-0-0) at Eastlink Centre on Saturday at 7 p.m.
ISLANDERS 4 TITAN 2
Before 1,119 fans at the
K.C. Irving Regional Centre, the Islanders outshot the Titan 41-25, including 13-5 and 15-7 advantages in the first two periods.
Four players – Lukas Cormier (1-1), Thomas Casey of Charlottetown, Brett Budgell and Cedric Desruisseaux – scored for the Islanders. Noah Laaouan added two assists. Casey has 17 points, including eight goals, in nine regular-season games.
Marc-Andre Gaudet and Cole Huckins replied for the Titan. Rookie defenceman Zach Biggar of Portage added an assist for the Titan.
The first period was scoreless and the Islanders took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
Winning goaltender Colten Ellis made 23 saves while the Titan’s Christian Sbaraglia finished with 37 saves. Charlottetown’s fourth goal was scored into an empty net.
The game’s three stars were:
1. Christian Sbaraglia
(Titan), 2. Marc-Andre Gaudet (Titan), 3. Lukas Cormier (Islanders).
ISLANDERS 7 MOOSEHEADS 1
Before 970 fans at Eastlink Centre, William Trudeau scored a goal and added three assists while Casey scored twice to pace the Islanders.
Desruisseaux (1-1), Justin Gill (1-1), Sam Oliver and Drew Elliott also scored. Laaouan and Budgell contributed two assists.
Landon Miron netted the lone goal for the Mooseheads (3-5-2-0).
The teams were tied 1-1 after the opening period, but four unanswered second-period goals gave the Islanders control with a 5-1 lead.
Winning goaltender Jacob Goobie stopped 26 of 27 shots. Halifax starter Cole McLaren gave up seven goals on 36 shots in 47:24 of action. Brady James stopped all six shots he faced the rest of the way.
The game’s three stars were:
1. William Trudeau (Islanders), 2. Jacob Goobie (Islanders), 3. Justin Gill (Islanders).
ELSEWHERE
Saint John Sea Dogs defenceman and assistant captain Charlie DesRoches earned three assists in a 5-3 win over the Cape Breton Eagles on Saturday. DesRoches, who was named the game’s second star, has seven assists in eight regular-season games.
Defenceman Logan KellyMurphy of China Point earned an assist to pick up his first point of the 2020-21 season to help Cape Breton to a 5-4 overtime win over Saint John on Friday.
Wildcats defenceman Jordan Spence of Cornwall scored a hat trick, including the winning goal 1:51 into overtime on Friday night in Moncton’s 7-6 win over the Titan on Friday. Spence improved his season point total to nine.
St-Raphael native Chad Arsenault stopped 30 of 37 shots for the Titan against the Wildcats. Arsenault’s record dropped to 5-0-1-1 and he has a 2.92 goals-against average and .922 save percentage.