Islanders fall to the Mooseheads in overtime
The Charlottetown Islanders came into Friday’s tilt with the Halifax Mooseheads following a tough 6-3 loss in Halifax on Thursday night, and they were looking to turn things around in front of a large hometown crowd.
The Islanders went with their go-to man in the crease, starting Matthew Welsh between the pipes. On the other side of the ice, former Islander Blade Mann-Dixon got his 5th career start against his former team.
Both teams came out ready to play in the first period, trading scoring chances left and right, with each side running into a hot goaltender.
At the end of the opening period the game was scoreless with the Isles outshooting the Mooseheads, 14-13.
The second period was much of the same, even with the increased pressure applied by the Isles on the Halifax netminder. The Isles fired 13 shots at Mann-Dixon in the second period, but the former Isle was still perfect through 40 minutes, stopping all 27 shots against.
The game really opened up in the third as just over two minutes in, Halifax forward Raphael Lavoie got his stick on a loose puck, firing a shot off the post and past Welsh to open the game’s scoring.
But it wasn’t until the end of the period that the game’s floodgates would open.
With less than 5 minutes to go in the third period, Islanders recent addition Cameron Askew poked away at a loose puck in the Halifax crease, eventually sliding a shot past Mann-Dixon to tie the game.
Just over two minutes later, with 2:10 remaining in the game, Keith Getson fired his 14th goal of the season past his former teammate to give the Isles the late 2-1 lead.
With less than two minutes to go in the period, Isles captain P.O. Joseph was called for hooking, sending the Mooseheads to the power play in the closing seconds. Halifax would pull their goalie in favour of the 6 on 4 advantage.
With 41 seconds left on the clock, one of the Mooseheads’ newest acquisitions, Jake Ryczek one-timed a shot from the left-faceoff circle beating Welsh to tie the game late.
The score would not be settled in regulation, sending the game into overtime.
In the extra frame the Isles had their chances, with Getson coming close on multiple occasions, but it was the hulking forward Raphael Lavoie who put the game away for his team.
With just over half of the 3-on-3 overtime left to be played, Lavoie took a pass from Ryzcek, before beating Welsh for his second goal of the game, grabbing the overtime winner in front of the stunned Charlottetown crowd.
The Isles go on to fall to the top ranked Mooseheads on back-to-back nights, with Halifax bolstering their Maritime Division lead in the process.
Islanders defenceman Taylor Egan was back in the lineup for the Islanders for the second straight game after being held off the ice for over a month and a half due to injury.
Egan picked up where he left off, putting in a solid performance on the back-end, but his team were still left disappointed following a tough loss.
“The boys are a little disappointed,” Egan said. “But there is a lot of positives to take out of it. We took them into overtime and if a few bounces would have went our way, we could have won it.
The Isles are back in action on Sunday in Moncton for a 3PM matchup with the Wildcats.
