Eagles Fall To Cataractes 5-2 At Centre 200
NOTES FROM THE GAME
– The Shawinigan Cataractes took a 2-0 lead in the opening period and held off the Cape Breton Eagles for a 5-2 victory Saturday night at Centre 200 in Sydney. Matvei Gridin & Vince Elie helped pace the Cataractes attack with two point nights.
– Jacob Newcombe & Romain Litalien scored the Eagles goals.
– Angelo Fullerton returned to the Cape Breton lineup from a two game suspension, and notched an assist on the Newcombe goal.
– Félix Hamel picked up the win in goal for Shawinigan, stopping 23 of 25 shots. Jakub Milota stopped 23 of 28 shots in the loss.
Shawinigan cashed in on the first power play of the game, with Reece Peitzsche finishing from in front of the net at the 3:09 mark. Félix Lacerte also scored for the visitors in the opening frame, putting a shot in the top corner to make it a 2-0 score.
The first goal of the second period was also scored on a Shawinigan power play, but this time it was the Eagles striking short handed, with Newcombe racing in on a breakaway and putting it up top. While the Eagles did kill the penalty, the goal was neutralized less than three minutes later when an Elie faceoff win saw the puck moved to Gridin and he zapped by Milota to make it 3-1. The Eagles pushed back though with a power play marker, Litalien setting a screen and tipping a Brayden Schmitt shot by Hamel to make it 3-2.
Chances were hard to come by for both teams in the third period but things opened up with special teams play in the final eight minutes. It took just eight seconds into a power play for Louis-Philippe Fontaine to find the back of the net and give the Cataractes a 4-2 edge with under eight minutes to play. 20 seconds later, Éli Baillargeon won a battle along the left boards, dropped the puck to the slot and Cole Chandler finished the play to make it 5-2.
The Eagles had chances in the final minutes- Shawinigan took back to back minor penalties and in both cases, the Eagles lifted Milota for an extra attacker, generating pressure but unable to beat Hamel. Ultimately, it was the Eagles who finished the game short handed as Cam Squires was given a major penalty in the final minute for slewfooting.
The Eagles are next in action on Friday night as they head to Bathurst to take on former Eagles FJ Buteau & Emile Perron, and their Acadie-Bathurst Titan! Puck drop is at 7 PM . The game is available for purchase on https://shorturl.at/maiK3 and you can also hear all the action on 1270 AM CJCB or online at www.cjcbradio.com
Scratches For Cape Breton: Noah Larochelle (injury), Logan Quinn (injury), Rory Pilling (injury), Lucas Romeo (injury)
Scratches For Shawinigan: Mathieu Plante, Natan Éthier, Mathys Fernandez, Noah McKinnon, Isaac Ménard,
Final Shots On Goal: 28-25 in favour of Shawinigan
Cape Breton Power Play: 1/5
Shawinigan Power Play: 2/6
