Isles come from behind to earn victory over Wildcats
It wasn’t pretty, but the Charlottetown Islanders got there.
After some questionable play had the team down heading in to the final frame, the Isles came to life in the third period; the trio of Patrick Leblanc, Justin Gill, and Cedric Desruisseaux catapulted Charlottetown to a 6-4 victory over the Moncton Wildcats, salvaging two out of a possible four points this weekend.
“We were a bit too fancy tonight,” said Desruisseaux on his team’s performance. “We were playing too rushed and forcing plays instead of just putting the puck deep and getting on the forecheck. That forecheck is one of our keys, and we weren’t really doing it.”
The first two periods saw some sloppy, careless play from Charlottetown, one that the team had to correct during the second intermission. The Isles may only have been down by one goal, but the scoreboard didn’t necessarily reflect the on-ice play.
“At the end of the period we really had to calm down and remind ourselves what we needed to do.” added Desruisseaux, who scored two goals and added an assist in the victory.
Desruisseaux’s three points were just a few more on what has been an incredible season so far. The Victoriaville native has now matched his goal total from all of last season. His goal just seconds in to the third period spearheaded a changing of momentum, tying the game up at 3-3 and effectively resetting the game for the final 20 minutes.
“He’s been unbelievable; there’s hot, and then there’s inferno hot. He definitely falls under that category,” added Islanders head coach Jim Hulton regarding his leading scorer. “He’s consistent night in and night out. He gets quality looks, takes high-quality shots, and is burying them right now. It’s certainly carrying us through this stretch of time.”
The game nearly swung back in favour of Moncton midway through the final frame thanks to Cornwall native Jordan Spence. The Los Angeles Kings prospect gave his team the lead thanks to a bouncing puck and a hard wrist-shot from the high slot. The goal thrusted him into the point-scoring lead for his team.
The Isles didn’t waver though, and clawed back in. Gill, the second head of tonight’s three-headed monster, got on the board after a nice passing play ended with him in the slot all alone with the puck. He’d go bar-down on Wildcats rookie netminder Nicholas Sheehan for his third goal on the year.
The final member of that line, Patrick Leblanc, would put Charlottetown up for good in the dying minutes. Finding a loose puck to the side of the goal, Leblanc kept his head up and completed a perfect wraparound goal, giving him his second goal of the year and surpassing his point total from all of last year.
“It felt good to come back and get the job done and get the two points,” said Leblanc on the game. “Any way I can help the team is always good.”
Thomas Casey would bury the empty netter to seal the ninth win of the season for the Islanders.
Drew Johnston added a key goal in the final second of the second period to spark some momentum for the Islanders, while also adding an assist. Lukas Cormier and Noah Laaouan each collected two assists while William Trudeau, Zac Beauregard, and Drew Elliott each added single assists. Colten Ellis made 20 saves for the victory.
For Moncton, Charles-Antoine Pilote and Dominic Leblanc each recorded their first career QMJHL goals while Gabriel Fortier finished with a goal and an assist. Sheehan made 26 saves in defeat.
The Islanders will have another full week of preparation before welcoming the Cape Breton Eagles to town for back-to-back games starting Friday, November 13th. All of the action will be on Eastlink Community TV, Fair Isle Ford Isles Radio, the Factory Downtown and Boston Pizza, and Ocean 100’s Saturday Night Hockey! Don’t miss a moment of the action!
