Isles return home with a 4-2 win over the Eagles
The Isles return to the Eastlink Centre in style with a 4-2 win over the Cape Breton Eagles.
Eventual first star, Aksels Ozols, bounced back well earning his sixth win of the season in his eleventh start of the year.
The Eagles were quick to test Ozols but he started strong, turning the chance away.
Island native Cam Squires had a breakaway chance nine minutes into the period, but Ozols stopped the shot with a flashy glove save.
Cape Breton retained pressure, outshooting the Isles 11-7 with 8:40 left in the frame.
Though it was the Isles who opened the scoring. Simon Hughes shot the puck along the ice for his first marker of the season. Kyle Powers and Cole Huckins each assisted on the goal.
The Eagles responded just two minutes later as Luke Patterson buried a rebound for his second of the year to tie the game.
The Isles went to the man advantage shortly after as another P.E.I. native, Zach Biggar tripped up Powers after he made a nifty move to set the puck free, but the Isles couldn’t convert on the power play.
Shots at the end of the first period were knotted up at 13 apiece.
The second period started in the Isles defensive end as the Eagles picked up right where they left off in the first period.
Ozols stayed hot though. He was able to turn away chance after chance Cape Breton threw his way.
Almost half way through the period, Cam MacDonald took a hooking penalty, giving the Isles their second power play of the game but the man advantage stayed cold.
Cape Breton came back the other way after killing the penalty, but once again, Ozols stayed strong, turning away the chances.
Against the flow of play, Giovanni Morneau ripped his sixth goal of the season through Eagles goaltender Jakub Milota to retake the lead. Michael Horth and Simon Duguay assisted.
Ozols stopped all 13 shots he faced in the frame. The Isles were being outshot by a total of 26-19.
It was back and forth to start the third period. Chances from Matthew Butler and Ondrej Maruna were denied by Milota, while Ozols was still stopping everything that came his way.
The Isles then gained momentum. They carried the puck in the offensive zone and Milota had to stay strong.
Charlottetown was awarded a short 5-on-3 power play after a Lubos Stahon holding and Cam Squires slashing call.
After killing off the penalties, it was Squires who came back the other way and the puck popped into the air, landing just behind Ozols to tie the game with just over a minute to go.
But less than a minute later, Huckins stayed hot and snapped a shot through traffic, beating Miloka to retake the lead for the Isles.
After a 45 second time-out by the Eagles, and a Cape Breton empty net, Horth won a race for the puck and tapped home his seventeenth goal of the campaign, securing the 4-2 win.
Charlottetown outshot the Eagles 33-32 in the win, but their power play continued to struggle going 0/4. The Eagles outhit the Isles 14-10.
The Islanders return to the ice Friday, Nov. 17th as they take on the top team in the country, the Halifax Mooseheads. Puck drop at the Eastlink Centre will be at 7:30 p.m.
Fans can tune into the game at MAX 93.1FM. Purchase tickets here.
