Isles respond with major bounce back performance, defeating Tigres in Game 3
You can call it a statement, a rebound, or a bounce back. Whatever you call it, all it means is that the Charlottetown Islanders are one win away from the President Cup Finals.
The Islanders erased the nightmare that was Game 2 with a fantastic performance in Game 3, using the powerplay to their advantage. Three goals were scored while up a man, including Bailey Peach’s game winner as the Islanders put the Tigres on the ropes with a 4-3 victory.
“Really, really proud of our team’s effort tonight,” said Islanders head coach Jim Hulton the victory. “We put into practice what we were preaching about not getting too high or not getting too low. The day off to hit the reset button was enormous for us. I thought we did a really good job of re-grouping.”
Hulton had praise for his group of veterans in the locker room who helped get their group on the right page.
“I thought our leadership core did a wonderful job to get our focus to where it needed to be.”
“I’m certainly really proud of our group for how we responded from Game 2’s loss. Right from the hop, everyone was ready to go; we had great attention to detail and we wanted it so much on that bench. We were willing to pay that price to win tonight.” added Brett Budgell, the team’s captain who had a goal in the victory.
Game 3 started out in stark contrast to Game 2. While the Islanders started the game strong once again, their game didn’t falter early. The Isles stayed relentless on the puck and were rewarded for their efforts early on the powerplay; after Lukas Cormier entered the zone successfully, the puck was sent around the ice before Cormier found the puck in tight off a rebound. His second goal of the playoffs gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead midway through the period.
That lead wouldn’t last long as the Tigres would tie it up. 17-year-old Maxime Pellerin would make a sharp move to dance around an Islanders defender and deke Colten Ellis cleanly for his first career playoff goal.
The play would stay tied until late in the second period when the two teams exchanged goals once again. It was awfully similar to the first period as the scoring would start on the powerplay with the Isles. Budgell would corral the puck in a scramble in front of Tigres starter Fabio Iacobo and just poke it past the 19-year-old netminder for his fourth goal of the playoffs.
Sean Larochelle followed it up quickly for Victoriaville. Off a broken rush, Larochelle would throw a puck on Ellis from behind the goal line that would handcuff the netminder and deflect behind the netminder to tie it up before the end of the 2nd.
The see-saw game continued in the third period but Charlottetown would finally pull ahead thanks to an unsung hero. Brendan McCarthy would get a great feed from Zac Beauregard along the right wing. He’d fire a shot that got through the legs of Iacobo to give the Isles a 3-2 lead. It was a statement goal from the team’s fourth line after team depth told the story in Game 2.
Bailey Peach would follow that up with what would stand as the eventual game winner. Peach, who had been quiet to this point in the playoffs, would finish off a fantastic passing play on the powerplay that started with William Trudeau and Patrick Guay.
Victoriaville would get on the board late but the Islanders would lock it down for good, suppressing any more opportunities to head back to the hotel with a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4 gets under way Sunday, May 23rd at 4:00pm. You can catch the action as always with George Matthews and Cory Arsenault on Ocean 100 or on Eastlink Community TV. Join us for supper at the PEI Brewing Company and our Playoff Viewing Party! Get your tickets HERE.
