Storming back in Moncton
2022-02-15
The first lead of the night for the Mooseheads came with zeros on the clock as Markus Vidicek completed a comeback with a breakaway goal in overtime to give Halifax a 4-3 victory in Moncton.
The Herd rallied back from a pair of two-goal deficits to grab their 20th win of the season and steal an extra point against their division rivals. The win runs the Mooseheads’ record to 20-12-1-1 and their 42 points are three clear of the Wildcats to put Halifax in third place in the Eastern Conference.
Vidicek was sprung on a breakaway by Jordan Dumais while the Cats were in some confusion around their own bench and the young center made Moncton pay with some quick fakes before finishing with a high backhand over the glove of goalie Jonathan Lemieux. It’s the third win in four games for the Moose since restarting the QMJHL schedule and was representative of their never-say-die attitude.
Comeback Complete.
????Vidicek (10) 1:17 OT
????Dumais, Furlong | #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/qe046l3dtt— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) February 16, 2022
The Wildcats held leads of 2-0 and 3-1 as late as 6:19 of the third period but Halifax found a way to claw back despite not bringing their best effort for the majority of the evening at the Avenir Centre aside from goaltender Brady James who was a key factor in helping his team come away with two points. James made several acrobatic saves while facing a total of 43 shots and was named the second star of the game.
The Moose fell behind on tallies by Brooklyn Kalmikov and Vincent Labelle before Bobby Orr struck with his 14th of the season at 15:37 of the second period with a nice flick of the backhand from in tight on Lemieux. Moncton restored their two-goal advantage very early in the third period on Kalmikov’s second of the night but as the game got chippy and a little more wide open, the Herd stormed back.
Attilio Biasca pulled his squad a little closer when his slot deflection of a Stephen Davis point shot found the back of the net. Another deflected goal would tie the game with 6:42 remaining in regulation when rookie Logan Crosby notched the first goal of his career. The 2021 first round pick went to nearly the identical place as Biasca to tip an Alex Tessier blast to pull the Herd even with the Wildcats for the first time since early in the opening period. Tessier finished the game with a pair of assists.
There was plenty of physicality in the division battle with some hard hits being thrown by both sides, most notably from Moncton’s Anthony Hamel and Halifax’s Zac Beauregard. Rookie defenceman Dylan MacKinnon dropped the gloves with Nathan Casey in a third period fight that seemed to spark his club while Captain Elliot Desnoyers got into it with Thomas Auger in the dying seconds of regulation and both players were handed double minors for roughing.
BOOM GOES THE BEAUREGARD#GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/HDxkaqG7Fr
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) February 16, 2022
The game sets up some interesting encores with the Mooseheads and Wildcats set to meet again Sunday in Moncton and again on Heritage Day Monday in a matinee at Scotiabank Centre. The next game for the Herd is coming up Friday night at home against the Saint John Sea Dogs at 7pm. The newest NS Public Health protocols will allow for 3,000 fans to attend Mooseheads home games between now and March 14th which will accommodate Season Package Members.
