Isles fall to the Tigres 6-3
By Kyle Cotton
Charlottetown, PE – The Charlottetown Islanders were defeated by the Victoriaville Tigres 6-3 at the Eastlink Centre Thursday night.
Carter Bickle started in his ninth game in a row despite Aksels Ozols returning, but Ozols would end up coming in for Bickle in the second period.
Victoriaville on the board early in the first
It took just over three minutes for the Tigres to go to the man advantage as Cole Huckins took a high-sticking penalty.
Victoriaville would capitalise on the man advantage. Justin Larose tipped a shot from Pier-Olivier Roy past Bickle to open the scoring.
The Isles were awarded their first power play not long after with a tripping penalty called against Francesco Iasenza, but they couldn’t convert.
There was some 4-on-4 play later in the frame as both teams were assessed with roughing minors, but there was no scoring with the extra space on the ice.
Victoriaville led in shots 13-12 going into the intermission.
Victoriaville’s offence goes to work in the second
It only took a minute and 49 seconds before Justin Gendron scored his eleventh of the season to double the Tigres’ lead.
Just over a minute later, Egor Goriunov added another after a cross-crease pass, putting them up 3-0.
The offence continued to push. Sidney Deslauriers dangled around the Isles’ defence to bury the puck past Bickle, extending their lead to four goals.
Ozols then came in to relieve Bickle.
The Isles would soon be awarded another power play, but once again it couldn’t convert.
Before the period was over, Victoriaville added a fifth goal as Nikita Prishchepov added his eleventh goal of the year, sending the Tigres into the second intermission leading 5-0.
Isles push back in third
Huckins (11) got the period started as the Islanders finally found the back of the net three minutes into the final frame.
They kept pushing. Eventually, Simon Hughes (9) broke through. His goal brought the Isles back within three. William Shields recorded his first point wearing the black and gold with an assist, and Matthew Butler added his 20th helper of the year.
Victoriaville responded though. Joseph Henneberry scored his first goal as a member of the Tigres to restore the four goal lead.
But in the dying moments of the game, Alexis Michaud (10), managed to get the puck into the back of the net while falling to once again bring it back within three. Kyle Powers and Will Allen assisted.
It was too little too late though as Victoriaville would win this game 6-3.
The Isles fought hard in the third period to try to bring the game back, and ended up bringing the shots to within two at the end of regulation. But the Tigres still outshot them 38-36. Charlottetown led in hits 29-22.
Head coach Jim Hulton was pleased with the effort in the third period despite losing 6-3.
“I love the fact that we stuck with it and won the third period. We talked about trying to create momentum. We know we have a big game tomorrow night against Rimouski,” he said. “It was nice to build momentum in that third. There’s no quit in that sweater and I’m proud of that. There are a lot of lessons to be learned moving forward from a game like this.”
The Isles hit the ice next tomorrow night as the Rimouski Oceanic come to town. Puck drop at the Eastlink Centre is at 7 p.m.
