Mooseheads Use Power Play to Beat Islanders
The Halifax Mooseheads took advantage of the power play, scoring three times with the extra man in a 4-1 win over the Charlottetown Islanders Sunday afternoon at the Eastlink Centre.
“We don’t play how we want,” said Islanders forward Matej Beran. “We took stupid penalties, too many turnovers, we don’t play like a team…we play like selfish guys. We must change something.”
With the loss, the Islanders have now lost eight straight games and drop to 13-16-1-3 on the season.
It’s very tough, said Beran.
“We work hard in practice and we want to win every game, but next game we must win.”
Hard work will help the team get out of the slump, said Beran.
“We have to play like a team. At the beginning of the season we played like a team.”
Islanders alternate captain Troy Vance said the team couldn’t get the job done.
“We didn’t bear down in the third period and when it comes to crunch time when you need a little extra effort we didn’t put it up there today.”
Vance said it will take extra effort from all aspects of the game for the team to snap the skid.
“From preparation to on the ice, it comes down to who wants it bad enough.”
The Mooseheads improve to 23-10-0-1 on the season and take the first overall spot in the league.
Beran opened the scoring with his ninth of the season on the power play at 11:09. Daniel Sprong and Anthony Cortese were credited with assists. Halifax tied the game with a power play goal of their own from Timo Meier at 18:44. The goal was his 11th of the season and Island native Darcy Ashley and Nikolaj Ehlers drew assists.
The Mooseheads took a 2-1 lead into the third period with an Andrew Ryan power play goal at 17:35. Ashley and Ehlers were given assists on the goal.
In the third period, the Mooseheads added a third power play goal with Ehlers scoring his 20th goal of the season at 4:46. MacKenzie Weegar and Ryan were given assists. Ehlers is 12 points ahead of Charlottetown’s Sprong in rookie scoring.The Mooseheads capped off the scoring with Ashley scoring an empty net goal at 18:29.
Zachary Fucale made 22 saves in the winning goal for Halifax and saw his record improve to 19-8. Antoine Bibeau saw his record drop to 7-14 in the loss making 37 saves.
The Mooseheads played without super-star forward Jonathan Drouin, but Vance said it doesn’t matter who is in the lineup or not.
“You got to show up to play no matter who’s there.”
The Islanders will look to get back to their winning ways Wednesday night when they host the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m. It will be the Wildcats’ first visit to the Eastlink Centre this season.
“It’s a huge game for us,” said Beran. “We must start a winning streak and it’s a good day to start. We must beat them.”
Charlottetown is 1-1-0-0 against the Wildcats this season and also have their last win against Moncton, dating back to Nov. 16 when the Islanders took a 3-2 shootout decision at the Moncton Coliseum.
