Mandolese stops 26, shuts out Islanders in front of home crowd
To this point in the series between the Charlottetown Islanders and Cape Breton Screaming Eagles, there has been a different hero each game. Brett Budgell scored the double-overtime winner in Game 1. Lukas Cormier scored the game-winner late in Game 2.
Tonight, it was Kevin Mandolese.
Mandolese made a number of key saves throughout the game, particularly in the first, to keep his team ahead. Egor Sokolov scored the lone goal in the game and the Screaming Eagles defeated the Islanders 1-0 to climb back in to this series.
“It looked like the first two games of the series, in that it was a tight game,” said Isles head coach Jim Hulton following the game. “Both teams have tightened up; from my end, I liked our approach. I thought we did a much better job of cutting down on the Grade A chances.”
“It comes down to them having a shot with eyes that went in. We’ve had that same shot with eyes in Charlottetown.”
Mandolese and Isles starter Matthew Welsh were called upon early in the game as the action opened up on the ice early. It was arguably the biggest matchup in this series and tonight that showed, as the two went tit-for-tat, save after save, each giving their skaters a chance to gain the lead.
The action continued this way until late in to the second period, when Sokolov finally cracked the scoresheet. Mitchell Balmas would fire a puck on net from the point that the big Russian would get a stick on. He’d deflect it past Welsh for his first goal of the postseason and a Screaming Eagles lead heading in to the third.
The Isles would push hard to get the game tied up in the third period, scratching and clawing to get in to the goal column. They’d get a fantastic opportunity to tie the game up late in the third; off a faceoff, Mitchell Balmas would close his hand on the puck and sweep it to his defenseman, drawing a penalty with under 2 minutes remaining in regulation. Charlottetown would pull Welsh for the 6-on-4 advantage, but Cape Breton’s defenders bore down when it mattered most, giving the hometown crowd a reason to cheer and preserving the Mandolese shutout.
Matthew Welsh was equally fantastic in goal for Charlottetown, making 22 saves in defeat.
“I don’t think anyone in their wildest dreams thought this was going to be a sweep one way or the other,” added Hulton. “It’s got all the earmarkings of a long series; this was just another step in the journey.”
The two teams will waste little time getting ready for Game 4, as they’ll face-off tomorrow night, March 27th, at 7:00pm at Centre 200. You can follow along with the action on Ocean 100 with George Matthews and Cory Arsenault, or watch it all unfold at the Olde Dublin Pub on their big screen, as they’ll be showing all the action live! Tickets for Game 5 will officially be on sale tomorrow at 11:00am at the Eastlink Centre box office, by phone at 902-629-6625, or online at https://boxoffice.eastlinkcentrepei.com!
