Islanders look to leave 7-1 loss to Titan in 2017 as they enter the New Year
The Islanders entered Sunday afternoon’s game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan coming off of a 3-2 win against the very same Titan squad on Friday!
The Isles went with rookie goaltender Dakota Lund-Cornish in goal on Sunday, with Joseph Murdaca getting the start between the pipes for the Titan.
The Titan power play is tops in the QMJHL, ranking third overall, and it didn’t take long for them to strike in this one.
Just over four minutes into the opening period Summerside native Noah Dobson fired a shot from the point, beating a crouched Lund-Cornish over the shoulder.
Two minutes after the Titan goal, Islanders defenceman Hunter Drew got into a shoving match with Jeffrey Truchon-Viel with the two dropping the gloves soon after.
Drew landed several solid punches to Viel before scoring the wrestling style takedown.
Unfortunately for the already short-handed blueline of the Islanders, Drew and Viel were handed game misconducts and their night we ended early.
Following another Dobson goal that was called back due to an offside, the Titan power play took to the ice again for a second chane.
At 15:10 of the first period Dobson let a shot go from the point that was deflected by Liam Murphy, past Lund-Cornish to extend his team’s lead.
The Isles were quick to answer back, as just 19 seconds later Samuel Meisenheimer received a pass from Gregor MacLeod and fired a shot past Murdaca to cut into the Titan lead.
The momentum was short lived though as just 28 seconds later Murphy struck again on the man advantage, increasing his team’s lead to 3-1.
As the first period came to an end the Isles trailed Acadie-Bathurst by two goals, being outshot 13-9.
The Titan started the second period the same way they started the first. With a goal.
Just over four minutes into the period forward Marc-André LeCouffe scored his second goal of the season, beating Lund-Cornish to push the Titan’s lead to three goals.
The Titan would only go on to add to their lead from there, as 10 minutes later Jordan Maher scored his third goal in as many days against the Isles, opening the floodgates for Acadie-Bathurst.
The third period was more of the same from the Titan offence as they added goals from Logan Chisholm and Antoine Morand mid-way through the period to increase the Acadie-Bathurst lead to six goals.
The Titan would go on to take the game, 7-1, grabbing their first win of the season against the Isles in the process.
With the win the Titan leapfrog the Islanders in the standings, now holding sole possession of second place in the Maritime Division.
For Islanders Head Coach and General Manager Jim Hulton, it was a long day at the office for his team.
“The busy schedule and depleted lineup caught up to us today as we just didn’t have enough energy in our game. We will get some rest tomorrow and regroup with some much needed practice in preparation for next weekend.”
The Islanders are back in action on Thursday, as the Rimouski Oceanic roll into Charlottetown for a weekday matchup. Puck drop is set for 7PM.