Eagles Fall 5-2 To Mooseheads In Final Home Game Before Break
The first of four meetings in December in the Battle Of Nova Scotia went the way of the Halifax Mooseheads as they came away with a 5-2 victory.
Goals came in bunches in the opening period. Both teams failed to score on power plays in the first five minutes, but both would make good on their second man advantage of the night. First it was Jocktan Chainey opening the scoring for the visitors, with a blast through traffic from the point. Halifax would double the lead at even strength, just 40 seconds later, on a nifty passing play that would see Raphaël Lavoie score on a sharp angle from the corner.
At the 11:17 mark, Cape Breton would make hay on the man advantage, courtesy of Olivier Bourret. It started on a set play as Phélix Martineau raced down the ice after the puck was fired from the Eagles side of the ice. Martineau would get the puck off the end boards and swopped it in front of the net. He couldn’t score, but Bourret put in the rebound to put the home side on the board.
Just 22 seconds later, it would be a tie game, this time with Martineau himself finishing the play. The Eagles captain would collect his own rebound the two teams were knotted at two heading into period two.
It would remain that way through almost the entire second period. The best chance of the first 18 minutes came to the Mooseheads as Arnaud Durandeau earned a breakaway after being taken down by Ryan MacLellan. But the Halifax forward fired the puck wide and it remained tie game.
2-2 was the score until the final minute of the middle stanza. Connor Moynihan converted a pass from Otto Somppi from the behind the net with 59 seconds left in period two and Halifax took the lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
The home side would get no closer in the final frame. At the 11:30 mark Xavier Parent gave the visitors a two goal cushion. Then with just less than five minutes to go Arnaud Durandeau would score on a breakaway, looking like he was out of room before he deked around Kyle Jessiman on a backhand to make the score 5-2, and that would be the final.
The Screaming Eagles now take to the road to finish up their pre-Christmas schedule as they head to Charlottetown to take on the Islanders on Friday. You can catch all the action starting with the pre-game show with Patrick McNeil at 6:30 on 1270 AM CJCB or online at https://www.cjcbradio.com.
DAIRY QUEEN THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. Raphaël Lavoie (Halifax) 1 goal, 1 assist, 7 shots
2. Phélix Martineau (Cape Breton) 1 goal, 1 assist, 7 shots
3. Arnaud Durandeau (Halifax) 1 goal, 1 assist
Scratches For Cape Breton: Ross MacDougall (Lower body injury), Leon Gawanke (Division 1A World Juniors) Peyton Hoyt (upper body injury), Drake Batherson (world junior tryout)
Scratches For Halifax: Maxime Fortier (injury), Filip Zadina (world junior tryout), Blade Mann-Dixon (injury), Walter Flower
Final Shots On Goal: 30-27 in favour of Halifax
Cape Breton Power Play: 1/5
Halifax Power Play: 1/4
