Islanders continue their winning ways against the Titan
The Islanders came into Tuesday night’s game on a roll, winning 13 of the past 16 games, and they kept on rolling in this one.
Charlottetown went with Matt Welsh between the pipes to start this game. Welsh has been on fire as of late, losing only one of his past 12 starts. Starting in net for Acadie-Bathurst was back-up goalie Joseph Murdaca.
It didn’t take long for the Isles to open the scoring, as just over two minutes into the game, following a Marcel Berube penalty, the Isles penalty kill capitalized on a juggled puck. The unit of Keith Getson, Pascal Aquin and Olivier Desjardins burst up the ice, resulting in a short-handed goal for Getson coming off a beautiful assist from Aquin.
Less than 10 minutes later the Isles added to their lead.
After Acadie-Bathurst defencemen Keenan MacIsaac was sent to the box for holding the Isles power play took advantage. Following scoring chances for Gregor MacLeod and Saku Vesterinen, forward Matthew Grouchy was able to get his stick on a loose puck, batting it out of mid-air and into the open net.
As the first period came to an end the Isles led, 2-0, outshooting the Titan 18-8.
The second period was physical, with both team’s doing their best to wear down their opponents, but after neither side was able to score in the period the game rolled into the second intermission with the Isles still up by two.
In the third period the Isles defence was at the top of their game, being led by the fantastic play of Welsh between the pipes.
At 6:05 of the period Islanders forward Sam King scored his 5th goal of the season increasing the Isles lead to 3-0, but the Isles were not done there.
Just 45 seconds later, the newest addition to the Islanders, Liam Peyton, scored the first goal of his QMJHL career, wiring a perfect wrist-shot over the shoulder Murdaca.
The Isles would hold Acadie-Bathurst without a shot for the opening 10 minutes of the third period but the Titan refused to go away.
In the closing minutes of the period, Isles goaltender Matt Welsh was forced to make an incredible save with his stick, diving back across his crease to rob Acadie-Bathurst’s German Rubtsov.
That was as close as the Titan would come to beating Welsh though and the Isles would go on to win the game 4-0, with Welsh earning his second shutout of the season.
Up next for the Islanders is a three game road-trip in Quebec, which will see the team face-off against Blainville-Boisbriand, Quebec and Shawinigan on consecutive nights beginning on Friday.