Down but not out
Screaming Eagles look to erase 2-0 series deficit on home ice
The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles will look to get back into their Quebec Major Junior Hockey League quarter-final with the Charlottetown Islanders on home ice.
The Islanders lead the bestof-seven series 2-0, after a pair of wins in Charlottetown. Game 3 goes tonight and Game 4 is Wednesday at Centre 200, a 7 p.m. start for each contest.
Screaming Eagles head coach Marc-André Dumont said he’s seen growth from his team from Game 1 to Game 2 of the series, and hopes that continues tonight.
“The mood is great. It’s mid-April, it’s spring out there, sunny, and we’re playing hockey,” he said when asked about the demeanor of his club. “In our league, there are 10 teams out of 18 that are on vacation right now, so there’s no better time than the playoffs. We’re enjoying every second of it.
“We have a young group with 10, 16- or 17-year-olds, and for them to be in the second round and be competing the way we
are is rewarding. It’s exciting and we know the whole city is excited by that, too.”
The Screaming Eagles dropped Game 1 by a 4-1 final, and lost Game 2 by a score of 5-3. Cape Breton held the lead in both contests — and outshot their opponents in Game 2 — but three-goal outbursts by Charlottetown in each game tipped the scales in the Islanders’ favour.
Charlottetown’s power play has also been effective, going 3-for-11 in the first two games. Islanders star forward Daniel Sprong, a Pittsburgh Penguins
prospect, scored twice on the power play in Game 2. Cape Breton has failed to register a goal with the manadvantage thus far, going 0-for8.
“The most important thing is to outscore them in the period of 60 minutes,” said Dumont. “They have a power play that’s very dangerous and they were very opportunistic and they scored three goals on five scoring chances. We know that, we understand, we respect it and when a team like that has that much firepower offensively, it’s obvious they won’t need many scoring chances to get a goal.
“At the same time, we’re confident
we can do a better job on the penalty kill, but more importantly, we have to make sure we stay disciplined. In terms of our power play, we’re generating offence 5-on-5, we had a decent number of scoring chances, it’s just a matter of time and a matter of details before we connect on the power play.”
Dumont said defenceman Marcus Tesink (lower body) will be out this week. Tesink was hit by Islanders centreman François Beauchemin in Game 2 of the series. Beauchemin received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing, and was served a two-game suspension by the league.