The Isles erase a 4-1 deficit to take down the surging Voltigeurs

The Isles come back from a 4-1 deficit to take down the Drummondville Voltigeurs 5-4 in overtime.

Charlottetown had a season-high 40 shots on goal in the win.

Aksels Ozols was tested early, stopping a breakaway opportunity just three and a half minutes into the game.

Around the half-way mark of the period, Maveric Lamoureux would initiate knee-on-knee contact with Alexis Michaud, resulting in Michaud having to be helped off the ice. Lamoureux received a five minute major, and a game misconduct on the play.

The Isles would not convert on the power play and before it expired, took a penalty sending the play to 4-on-4.

Drummondville wouldn’t waste the extra space on the ice as former Islander, Drew Elliott, scored his first goal of the season, putting the Voltigeurs up 1-0.

Not long after, on even strength, they doubled up their lead as Nino Tomov scored his first of the season, putting them up 2-0.

That’s the way it stayed for the rest of the period. Shots after the first frame were tied at 13 apiece.

Early in the second, the Isles lost yet another player to injury as defenseman Anton Topilnyckyj got crunched into the boards. 

Charlottetown had some high-level chances throughout the period but it took until just after the half-way mark of the period to score.Simon Duguay got the Isles on the board with just first career QMJHL goal, cutting the Drummondville lead to just one goal.

But it didn’t stay at a one goal deficit for long as Drew Elliott would bury his second goal of the game, restoring their two-goal lead.

Less than four minutes later, another former Islander, Peter Repcik, scored his fifth goal of the season to extend Drummondville’s lead to three.

Charlottetown wouldn’t go into the intermission quietly though as Ondrej Maruna scored his third of the season just 20 seconds after Repcik’s goal sparking the third period comeback.

Ozols kept the door shut to start the third period, keeping the Isles in the game. Just over eight minutes into the frame, P.E.I. native Brett Arsenault scored his second goal of the season after a scramble in front of the net, bringing the Isles back within one.

Three minutes later, Robbie Rutledge tied the game in his return to Charlottetown, adding a goal to his assist earlier in the game. Giovanni Morneau fed it to him in tight of Voltigeurs goalie, Riley Mercer. Horth also assisted on the goal, bringing his total points up to 12.

There were some chances at both ends of the ice, but this one needed overtime.

Ozols had to stay strong to start the extra frame, stopping another breakaway opportunity to keep the Isles alive.

A scramble in front of Mercer led to Kyle Powers sending the puck to rookie Owen Conrad, who made no mistake on his shot blocker side against the momentum of Mercer, completing the comeback. 

“I didn’t realise we really won the game and then it clicked. All the boys came over and it was a party after that,” Conrad said.

Ross Campbell added an assist on the winner.

Charlottetown outshot the Voltigeurs 40-36 in the 5-4 win.

Head Coach Jim Hulton was proud of his squad for pulling away with the come from behind victory.

“There was a tremendous amount of character shown by the guys being down 4-1 to a good hockey club,” he said. “We started to battle in the second period. We started to get into the trenches a little bit, we went to the battle zones and we got rewarded.”

He was very impressed with the efforts of Robbie Rutledge in his first game back on the team.

“He started the season last year with us, he got cut, he came back to training camp, got cut again. Then having a great year for the Summerside (Western Capitals). It shows a lot about the character of that young man,” he said. “He’s always had a really good offensive mind and I think he just lacked a little bit of confidence but now he has that and it’s easy for him to step into the fold.”

Rutledge is happy to be back in the black and gold.

“It was one of the most fun games I’ve ever played,” he said. “The boys competed really hard and I’m glad we got the win. There’s no better feeling than this really.”

The Isles return to the ice tomorrow night at the Eastlink Centre to take on the Moncton Wildcats. Puck drop is at 7:00 p.m. Fans can tune into the game at MAX 93.1FM and can purchase tickets here.