Back and forth battle ends in Shootout loss for Herd
2026-02-19
The final road trip through the province of Quebec started with a strange one for the Mooseheads who showed up in Gatineau with plenty of offense but not enough attention to detail on the defensive end in a 6-5 shootout loss to the lowly Olympiques.
Gatineau entered the night as one-of-two teams out of a playoff spot in the 18-team QMJHL circuit but they rallied back to defeat the Moose thanks to a pair of third period goals 38 seconds apart that erased a 5-3 Halifax lead and forced extra time. Maxim Dube scored the only goal of the shootout and the Olympiques, thanks to a Rimouski loss, now find themselves in the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
There were some wild swings in the game after Jasu Mensonen opened the score less than two minutes after the opening face-off for the Mooseheads. Gatineau responded in a big way and held a 3-1 lead by the 8:31 mark of the second period before the Herd took a turn at a rally. Halifax reeled off four consecutive markers from Amelio Santini, Quinn Kennedy, Owen Phillips and Shawn Carrier to stake a 5-3 advantage only to watch it dwindle away late in the game.
Carrier and Phillips both enjoyed three point efforts in the defeat while Kennedy and Oleg Kulebiakin each picked up two-points apiece. Other assists went to Caylen Blake and Brenden Espenell.
The go-ahead goal from your Captain Owen Phillips
4-3 Mooseheads | @FloHockey | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/71HJRFUR6i
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) February 20, 2026
Simon-Xavier St-Cyr was the first star of the game for the home team with a goal and two helpers. Other Olympiques goals came from Maxim Dube, Noah Florent, Dylan Allie and 17-year-old rookie Louis-Etienne Halley had the equalizer.
The shots favoured Gatineau as they fired 38 at Owen Bresson while the Moose managed to put 31 on winning goalie Danai Shaiikov. The silver lining in the game for Halifax is the point gained in the shootout along with Rimouski dropping to 17th in the league. The Mooseheads own the Oceanic’s first round pick in June’s draft and the lottery odds for that pick at least temporarily jumped from a 14% chance to a 28% chance of landing the number one overall pick in the draft.
Halifax will continue the road trip on Friday night in Drummondville at 8pm AST before finishing it off on Sunday against the aforementioned Rimouski Oceanic at 4pm AST. The next home game for Halifax is coming up on Friday, February 27th at 7pm versus Saint John. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
