Islanders take Game 7, move on to second round
The Charlottetown Islanders exploded in the third period with their season on the line Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.
The Islanders scored six times to break open a 2-2 contest after 40 minutes and defeat the Quebec Remparts 8-3 to take the best-of-seven series 4-3.
Veteran forward Pascal Aquin scored 28 seconds into the third and added goals at 4:20 and an empty-net marker at 15:50 as part of his four-goal effort.
“I’m just happy that we’re moving on to the second round,” a calm Aquin said after the game. “All year long we had to prove everybody wrong because everybody thought we would finish last in the standings and now we just beat Quebec, so it feels awesome.”
It is the team’s first win in a Game 7 in franchise history and fourth straight trip to at least the second round of the playoffs.
The Islanders scored four times in the first 4:20 of the third period to take a commanding 6-2 lead and never looked back.
But it was what happened late in the second period that gave the Isles a chance to take the lead.
Matthew Welsh made a number of key saves, including another on former Isles teammate Gregor MacLeod, to preserve the tie heading to the second intermission.
“For five minutes, we let him down a little bit and he made some amazing saves,” Aquin said. “I’m so proud of him because he kept us in the game.”
Aquin said he took a perfect pass from captain Pierre-Olivier Joseph to score the go-ahead goal to start the third. Cam Askew made it 4-2 three minutes later.
“A two-goal lead felt like about a six-goal lead in this series,” head coach Jim Hulton said. “It looked like the first time we relaxed all night and we just took it over.”
Askew and fellow overager Olivier Desjardins were both added to the Isles lineup during the season. Hulton said there’s no making up for playoff experience. They were the only two Islanders with Game 7 experience before Tuesday.
“To have Desjardins, who was a force out there tonight, and Cam, who has gone through this before, they just calm everybody down and they shine through in big moments.”
The series was a matchup of the eighth- and ninth-place teams in the regular season. A tight contest with little to separate the teams was the script going into Game 1 and it prevailed most of the series. After six games, each team had three wins and each team had 19 goals heading into the third period of Game 7.
So what was the message in the second intermission?
“The whole time tonight we just tried to get them to enjoy the experience,” Hulton said. “It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, playing in a Game 7, don’t be nervous by it. Easier said than done. I don’t think any of us foresaw the third period going the way it did, but sure as hell glad it did. First time I was able to breath in about a week and a half.”
