Islanders Fall in a Shootout to Screaming Eagles
By Ryan MacEachern
With the regular season just around the corner the Islanders pulled into Montague’s Cavendish Farm Wellness Centre for a pre-season match-up with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
Charlottetown’s Matthew Welsh started in goal for the Islanders and Kyle Jessiman started for the Screaming Eagles. Both are likely to be their team’s stating goalies when the regular season rolls around.
Charlottetown forward Thomas Casey opened the scoring minutes into the first period but the lead would not hold up as Cape Breton’s Russian import Yegor Sokolov finished an impressive passing play with less than a minute remaining in the period to tie the game.
The Isles got themselves in a little trouble in the second period as they took two minor penalties and Pascal Aquin was dealt a Game Misconduct (Checking to the Head). The Islanders would kill off the long power play and as the period was coming to an end, defenseman Brendon Clavelle fired a shot that would beat Jessiman through traffic.
With just over 3 minutes remaining in the third period Islander’s Sam King was called for a hooking penalty. On the ensuing man-advantage Cape Breton’s Mathias Laferrière slide the puck under Welsh, tying the game and sending the game to overtime.
Both teams had their chances in overtime but after a scoreless frame the game went into the shootout.
Welsh and Jessiman continued their strong performances in the shootout, stopping each of their first two shooters, but on the Screaming Eagles third attempt Brooklyn Kalmikov was able to beat Welsh. Charlottetown’s Keith Getson was stopped on the following attempt and Cape Breton pulled out the victory.