Islanders clip Eagles in weekend matinee
Eagles erase early deficit but fall 6-3 to Islanders at Centre 200
SYDNEY – The Cape Breton Eagles overcame an early three-goal deficit but eventually fell 6-3 to the Charlottetown Islanders in Québec Major Junior Hockey League action on Saturday at Centre 200.
The high-flying Islanders, who sport an .840 winning percentage based on their 21-4 record this season, opened the scoring just 25 seconds into the contest courtesy of a Ben Boyd goal. Captain Brett Budgell and Patrick LeBlanc then scored less than a minute apart to give the visitors a 3-0 lead by the nine-minute mark of the opening period.
With a number of key regulars, including defencemen Jarrett Baker, Jérémy Langlois and Zach Welsh, out of the line-up due to injury, the rebuilding Cape Breton squad had its work cut out to make a comeback against one of the league's top teams.
But the hosts showed their resilience as their three leading goal scorers all lit the lamp to even the game by the 12-minute mark of the second stanza. Liam Kidney notched his 12th goals of the season, Dawson Stairs picked up his 11th and defenceman Nathan Larose tallied his team-leading 15th goal of the 2020-2021 QMJHL campaign.
While the crowd of 986 enjoyed the comeback, it didn't last long. Thomas Casey restored the Charlottetown lead by the end of the second period before he added an insurance goal early in the third period. Budgell put the game to rest with his second of the contest late in the frame.
The Islanders outshot the Eagles 36-14. Colten Ellis recorded the win to improve his personal season record to 16-1. The River Denys native sports a 1.89 goals against average and a career-high save percentage of .922. Ellis also has five shutouts so far this season. William Grimard shouldered the loss for the Eagles who fell to 11-15-1-0 (.426 pct.).
Stairs copped first-star honours, while Larose was the game's second star and Budgell the third.
Meanwhile, all upcoming Eagles games, both home and away, have been postponed due to COVID-19 regulations across the Maritime provinces.