Screaming Eagles outlast surging Islanders
In a game created to honour our country’s men and women in uniform, a Remembrance Day ceremony was held at the Eastlink Centre before puck-drop between the Charlottetown Islanders and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
The Islanders pulled into Wednesday night’s game against the Cape Breton coming off of three straight wins in Quebec.
The Screaming Eagles, on the other hand, came into the game as the league’s second highest scoring team and it didn’t take long for them to strike in this one.
Phélix Martineau opened the scoring 14:05 into the first period for Cape Breton, beating Islanders starter Matthew Welsh to take an early lead.
At the end of the first period the Isles outshot their opponents 15 to 4, but trailed 1-0.
Strict officiating became the story of the second period with 11 minor penalties called in the opening 15 minutes of the period.
Halfway through the period, with his team on the power play, Phélix Martineau scored again, doubling Cape Breton’s lead.
The Screaming Eagles were not done there, as just over two minutes later defencemen Ross MacDougall fired a shot that got past Welsh, increasing his team’s lead to 3-0.
But the Isles refused to go away and 1:48 into the third period, defencemen Olivier Desjardins found himself alone in the slot, wiring a shot over the shoulder of Cape Breton starter Kevin Mandolese to cut into the lead.
The Islanders maintained this pressure for much of the period, eventually resulting in a huge play from assistant captain Keith Getson.
With P.O. Joseph in the box for slashing, the top-ranked Cape Breton power play took to the ice.
Just over a minute into the man-advantage Getson found himself behind the Screaming Eagles defence, before beating Mandolese to cut the deficit to one goal.
In the final minutes of the period, with their net empty, the Isles threw everything they had at the Screaming Eagles netminder, but after a delayed offside call forced the Isles back, Cape Breton’s Leon Gawanke fired a shot from his own blueline that found its way into the open Islanders net.
The Isles fell 4-2, marking the team’s second loss in their last 11 games.
The Islanders can get their revenge on Friday though as they square off against the same Screaming Eagles squad at Centre 200 in Cape Breton. Puck-drop is set of 7 pm.