Mooseheads flat in loss to Voltigeurs

Attention to detail is often the difference between winning and losing in elite sports.

The Halifax Mooseheads learned that lesson against the Drummondville Voltigeurs Friday night at the Scotiabank Centre. The Voltigeurs got the best of the Mooseheads in all the small ways, which added up to a 4-1 win for the visitors.

On paper, it was a fairly even match-up but the Mooseheads took some careless penalties, weren't sharp on special teams and seemed to have a hard time connecting on passes. It's not that they played horribly, there just was nothing crisp about their game.

The most noticeable difference was the Voltigeurs' effort on the puck. They were firmer with their sticks, won races and were more physically assertive in one-on-one battles.

The Voltigeurs opened the scoring 6:01 into the game but the Mooseheads tied it later in the period to make it 1-1 heading into the intermission.

Drummondville turned the game in the next period, outshooting Halifax 14-2 and scoring twice to take a 3-1 lead after 40 minutes.

The Voltigeurs put the game away with a power-play goal in the third period.

Fabian Hochegger, Nicholas Girouard, Isiah Campbell and Charles-Edouard Drouin scored for the Voltigeurs and Maxim Trepanier had the Mooseheads goal.

Alexis Gravel made 18 saves for Halifax and Anthony Morrone stopped 20 shots for Drummondville.

The loss is the Mooseheads' second in a row and drops their record to 8-10-1-0. The Voltigeurs improve to 14-7-0-0.

The Mooseheads' next game is at home on Saturday against the Bathurst Titan.

Notes: Cole Foston (knee), Jared McIsaac (shoulder), Walter Flower (undisclosed injury), Cameron Whynot (World Under-17 Hockey Challenge) and Gavin Hart (healthy scratch) did not play for Halifax . ... Drummondville's top scorer Dawson Mercer did not play because he is serving a six-game suspension for a high hit in a game against the Val-d'Or

Foreurs last week . ... Falmouth's Bailey Peach will miss the next month because of an upper body injury. The 18-year-old forward is in his third season with the Sherbrooke Phoenix. ... It was the annual Department of National Defence game so the Mooseheads wore special jerseys to recognize members of the Canadian military . ... Hockey Canada goalie consultant Fred Brathwaite was in attendance, presumably to get one more viewing of Gravel leading up to invitations going out for the world junior team tryout camp.