Eagles Drop Final Game Of 2015 In Halifax
Halifax- Third period penalty trouble ended up undoing the Screaming Eagles in their final game of 2015.
After winning the first half of the Battle Of Nova Scotia series at Centre 200, Cape Breton fell to defeat 5-4 in overtime in a game that saw the Eagles both come back from and surrender a two goal lead.
Just like Tuesday in Sydney, it was the home team that would score first as the Mooseheads couldn’t have asked for a better start. Taylor Ford fired a shot from the point after a face-off win at 2:13 to open the scoring, and just over two minutes later Otto Somppi would put a shot over the shoulder of Eagles goaltender Alexandre Bélanger. Somppi’s goal put an early end to Bélanger’s night as he was pulled in favour of Kyle Jessiman.
Switching goaltenders had the desired effect for Marc-André Dumont’s club as the visitors settled down and the next goal would be theirs. Ty Fournier won a battle behind the net for the puck and threw it out in front to Phélix Martineau who cut the Mooseheads lead in half. Halifax went into the first intermission holding a 2-1 lead.
Anthony Sorrentino would be the star of the second period, as he would be the only player to score, but he did so twice. Both goals came on wrap arounds- the first time saw Sorrentino follow his own rebound and tap it over Mooseheads goaltender Eric Brassard, while on the second goal he put it between the netminder’s legs.
Holding a one goal lead heading into the third period, the Eagles’ cushion would increase when captain Clark Bishop found a rebound lying on the ice at the blocker side of Brassard and put Cape Breton up 4-2.
Shortly after the goal Halifax coach Jim Midgley called a timeout. Just like Dumont’s goaltending change seemed to spark the Eagles earlier, the stoppage in play in this instance benefited the Mooseheads as not long after play resumed blue liner Jean-Sébastien Taillefer beat Jessiman from the top of the circle to close the gap to one.
Unable to draw a power play all night, penalties were the achilles heel of the Screaming Eagles as things came apart at the end of the game. With Pierre-Luc Dubois already in the box for hooking, Jonathan Deschamps failed to keep the puck in play when trying to clear it and Halifax was given a two man advantage with under two minutes to play.
Midgley elected to stay with the 5 on 3 advantage and not pull his goaltender. He would not need the sixth attacker as Jocktan Chainey would flip a shot through traffic to tie the game with 72 seconds left.
Still short handed, preserving the point became the priority for the Eagles with Deschamps in the box. Things turned worse when Duncan Macintyre was assessed a cross checking penalty with ten seconds remaining in regulation and the Eagles were faced with another 5 on 3 situation as the game crossed into overtime.
Deschamps’s penalty was killed off and the Eagles found themselves down four men to five, a situation rare with today’s QMJHL 3 on 3 overtime rules. They could not kill off the MacIntyre penalty though as a Danny Moynihan shot was tipped by Somppi- the second goal of the night for the Finnish forward- secured the victory for Halifax.
Thursday night’s game marks only the second time in Eagles history the club has played a game in on New Year’s Eve. In 2014 the Eagles were defeated 6-3 in Saint John. The Screaming Eagles have never hosted a new year’s eve contest.
Brassard picked up the victory in the Halifax goal, stopping 33 of 37 shots. Jessiman stopped 21 of 24 after Bélanger had allowed two goals on four shots.
The Eagles will now head home and start 2016 with a game against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Sunday afternoon.
The puck will drop at 3 PM. Tickets can be purchased at Centre 200 box office, by calling 902-564-2200 or online at https://tickets.capebreton.ca/Online/default.asp
Three stars:
1. Anthony Sorrentino (Cape Breton) 2G, 5 shots
2. Connor Moynihan (Halifax) 1A, 4 hits
3. Danny Moynihan (Halifax) 4A, 4 shots
Scratches For Cape Breton: Maxim Lazarev (world juniors), Evgeny Svechnikov (world juniors), Cole Reginato
Scratches For Halifax: Walter Flower (injury), Morgan Nauss (injury), Timo Meier (world juniors), Barrett Dachyshyn (injury)
Final Shots On Goal: 37-28 in favour of Cape Breton
Cape Breton Power Play: 0/0
Halifax Power Play: 2/6
