Isles’ season comes to an end in Shawinigan
The Charlottetown Islanders’ playoff run has come to an end.
Penalties cost the Islanders in game six against the Shawinigan Cataractes, allowing the Cataractes to take a commanding 6-1 victory to win the series 4-2.
Shawinigan had eight power play opportunities in the game, converting on four of them, while the Islanders went 0-for-3 on the night.
The Cataractes scored on a pair of 5-on-3 opportunities in the second period, as the Islanders couldn’t produce anything significant enough to respond offensively.
The teams almost came out of the first period scoreless, but the Islanders took a late penalty and Alex Pawelczyk capitalized to open the scoring.
Midway through the second, Pierre-Olivier Joseph lost control of the puck at the blue line and Anthony Beauvillier took the puck into the offensive zone and got it past Mason McDonald to double the Cataractes’ lead at the 8:04 mark.
Three minutes later, the Cataractes were on the power play again and Gabriel Gagné made it a 3-0 game.
The Islanders got on the board a few minutes later as Kameron Kielly set up Bradley Kennedy to deposit the puck into an open net and make it 3-1.
Then the floodgates opened in the Islanders penalty box.
Samuel Blais took a roughing penalty, and then the Isles were caught with too many men shortly after to make it a 5-on-3. Dmytro Timashov got the puck high over the top of McDonald to make it 4-1.
That left the Islanders still on the penalty kill, and when Keith Getson took a five-minute penalty for checking from behind, they were down two men again.
Timashov converted once more, putting one past the glove of McDonald at the 17:21 mark.
The Islanders calmed down and were more disciplined in the third period, but they couldn’t muster up enough to mount a comeback.
Pawelczyk sealed things off with his second of the game with five minutes left to play by jumping on a rebound in front of McDonald.
McDonald was strong in the game despite the score, stopping 39 of 45 shots that came his way in what could potentially be his last QMJHL game.
Although the Islanders came up short of advancing to the third round for the first time in franchise history, this team was one of the best the franchise has ever put on the ice, matching the franchise record for playoff wins.
The team will now make the journey home from Shawinigan to return to the Eastlink Centre for the last time.
The Islanders organization would like to thank all of its fans for their continued support throughout an up-and-down 2015-16 season. We look forward to seeing you all back for training camp in August.
