Roelens wins second straight OT game for Titan
03/30/2024
It was an all-too familiar scene on Saturday night in Moose Country when Milo Roelens buried a overtime winning goal for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan to stake the visitors to a 2-0 series lead in the Round #1 matchup with the Mooseheads.
The overage forward struck on the power play at the 2:21 mark of the extra period in the 2-1 Titan win for his second overtime winning goal in as many nights. David Moravec watched helplessly from the penalty box after taking the minor infraction for delay of game when he lifted the puck over the glass.
It was a disappointing ending for the Mooseheads who had fought back to tie the game 1-1 late in the third period on a Mathieu Cataford wrap-around goal that ignited the crowd inside Scotiabank Centre. Regulation ended with a flurry as Markus Vidicek put the puck across the line at the buzzer but a review clearly showed that time had expired before the puck was in the net. Halifax came out hard to start the overtime period as well, but the Moravec penalty put them on their heels and a hard shot by Roelens from the left wing circle deflated the 8,013 in attendance and put the Herd is a big hole in the opening round series.
Brand new game thanks to Mathieu Cataford.
🚨 Cataford (1) 15:55 3rd period
🍎 MacKinnon #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/noLMuG1yXG— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 31, 2024
The Mooseheads were a much better team overall than in Game #1 but the defensive effort from Bathurst was outstanding once again as they managed to clog the lanes and get sticks on pucks consistently when Halifax attempted to create scoring chances.
Mathis Rousseau and Antoine Keller continued their brilliant play between the pipes. Rousseau stopped 28-of-30 shots while Keller stopped 35-of-36 to earn the first star.
The series now shifts to the K.C. Irving Regional Centre in Acadie-Bathurst for Games 3 & 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm where the Herd will depend on their stellar road record to help them claw their way back into it. Halifax was 22-10-2-0 away from home in the regular season and will hope to do to the Titan what was done to them in Moose Country. If necessary, Game 5 would be held back in Halifax on Friday at 7pm.
