A Night of Firsts in Saint John
2024-09-21
The Halifax Mooseheads made Saturday night a memorable one in Saint John during a 5-2 road victory over the Sea Dogs to cap off a perfect weekend in the opening two games of the season.
Three players scored their first career goals to highlight an exciting night on offense. Antoine Fontaine, Danny Walters and Caylen Blake all notched their first tallies while Braden MacPhee’s second period, shorthanded strike stood up as the game-winner. Cade Moser also lit the lamp in the victory.
Fontaine, a veteran of 57 career games, finally got the monkey off his back when he deflected home a point shot by Owen Phillips a little more than three minutes into action. Fontaine added an assist and was named the game’s first star. Walters was the second star and MacPhee picked up the third star in a clean sweep by the Moose.
After the Sea Dogs fought back to tie the score 1-1, Moser struck on the power play to put the Herd back in front 5:53 into the second period. Saint John tied the game again before MacPhee used some slick moves at the top of the crease to go backhand on goalie Justin Robinson for a lead Halifax would not relinquish. It was a second straight night of relentless effort by Andrew Lord’s squad and the Moose finished the night with a 37-21 advantage in shots on goal.
Walters, the 11th overall pick in June’s QMJHL Entry Draft, added some insurance in the third period when Logan Crosby circled around the net and spotted him for a quick one-timer. Then it was Blake’s turn to show off his skill when he accepted a pass from Lou Levesque before getting Robinson to bite when he went forehand-to-backhand and roofed it over the goalie. Blake was a second round pick by Halifax in June.
Mathis Rousseau wasn’t overly busy, but was solid in making 19 saves to help the Mooseheads improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Forward Liam Kilfoil was knocked out of the game in the second period with an upper body injury and did not return. He is listed as day-to-day.
Next up for the Mooseheads will be a pair of road games next weekend with stops in Cape Breton on Friday night and Moncton on Sunday afternoon. The excitement continues to build for he Home Opener at Scotiabank Centre against first overall pick Maddox Dagenais and the Quebec Remparts on Friday, October 4th at 7pm. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
