Big night for Will Bent in tough loss to Isles
2025-03-12
The Mooseheads fought hard and had a great outing from their rookies on Wednesday in Charlottetown but couldn’t find a way to hold onto their third period lead and watched the Islanders storm back to grab a 5-3 victory at the Eastlink Centre.
Will Bent scored the first two goals of the game for Halifax on his 17th birthday while fellow rookie Caylen Blake had a goal and an assist, including the go-ahead marker a minute into the final period of regulation. Unfortunately for the Moose, the scrappy Islanders evened the score 3-3 at the 4:20 mark of the third period on Anthony Flanagan’s second goal of the evening and the home team took the lead for good with 2:59 remaining on the clock when a wrist shot from the point by Ethan Montroy appeared to his a Mooseheads player on the way through traffic and deflected high over Jacob Steinman.
The Islanders tacked on an empty net goal by Jonathan Lanza in the final minute to seal the comeback victory in a game that saw four lead changes throughout the night. Charlottetown put the puck in the net twice in the opening period but only one counted after an early strike from Flanagan was called back for offside. The Isles took the actual lead when rookie Jude Herron lit the lamp midway through the stanza. Bent quickly replied for the Herd with his fourth goal of the season and the clubs went to the room tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
The young American gave Halifax its first lead when he deflected Caylen Blake’s shot from the top of the circle 3:41 into the second period. Flanagan, the first star of the game, pulled Charlottetown even with his first goal of the night at 6:33 to cap the scoring in the period and it was 2-2 after two.
A big night for rookie Will Bent in Charlottetown 🔥 pic.twitter.com/D5Yk36d16Q
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 12, 2025
Blake’s goal in the opening minute of the third period gave the Mooseheads faith that a much needed win could be in the cards, but it was not to be and the Herd will need to regroup as the road trip continues on Friday night against a tough opponent in Cape Breton.
Captain Brady Schultz picked up an assist in the loss and is now just two back of Konrad Abeltshauser’s team record of 150 career points by a defenceman. Other players to earn assists for the Herd were Carlos Handel, Owen Phillips, Quinn Kennedy, Liam Kilfoil and Blake.
Entering the night, the Moose still held down the 15th overall position and the second-to-last playoff spot by two points over Gatineau and three up on idle Saint John with the Sea Dogs sitting outside of the playoff picture at least momentarily. The Gatineau Olympiques were in action on the road again Blainville-Boisbriand and in the lead over the Armada. A Gatineau win would tie them with Halifax in points but the Moose would still hold the tie breaker of regulation + overtime wins.
The Mooseheads and Eagles meet at 7pm on Friday night at Centre 200 before returning to Moose Country for a rematch on Sunday afternoon at 3pm at Scotiabank Centre. A special pregame ceremony will be held to honour the Mooseheads’ billet families. Tickets are on sale now at Ticketmaster.ca.
