DRAKKAR SQUEAK BY MOOSEHEADS 2-1
Mooseheads fans were treated to a good old fashioned goaltenders duel on Saturday night between the hometown Herd and rival Baie-Comeau Drakkar. Halifax’s Kevin Resop took a shutout bid into the third period but the Drakkar struck twice to grab a 2-1 victory at Scotiabank Centre.
Resop finished the night with 32 saves and was named the second star of the game, but Philippe Cadorette stole the show with 38 stops and was honoured as the first star for his efforts.
“I think we played a good first two periods but we didn’t match their tempo or intensity in the third period and it got away from us,” said Mooseheads forward Brandon Vuic.
The hulking winger was inserted back into the Halifax lineup after being a healthy scratch on Friday night in a 3-1 Moose victory over Cape Breton. Vuic played on a line with Sam LeBlanc and Andrew Shewfelt which served as an energy line for the Herd and created several chances with the forwards recording two shots apiece.
“Yeah, we were getting a little chemistry going on and we were just all working hard and tried to outwork the other team, but I guess it didn’t work out for us tonight,” he said.
A crowd of 8,612 erupted when Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring on the power play at 3:16 of the second period as his backhander went high over Cadorette for his 26th goal of the season. That extended Ehlers’ point streak to a whopping 24 games, while Timo Meier earned an assist to push his point scoring streak to 18 games.
The teams went back and forth in a fast paced affair throughout the night with Resop and Cadorette each giving their respective clubs a chance for a victory.
Maxime St-Cyr pulled the Drakkar even with the Moose when he slammed home a rebound after a nice initial save by Resop. The goal was St-Cyr’s league leading 43rd of the season and came at the 7:16 mark of the third period.
Baie-Comeau Captain Jeremy Gregoire gave his team the lead just over three minutes later when his shot trickled past Resop in a goal mouth scramble. Former Moosehead Luca Ciampini was credited with an assist in his first game back in Halifax.
The Mooseheads pushed hard for the equalizer and pulled Resop in favour of the extra-attacker with a little more than one minute remaining, but Cadorette was up to the challenge and ended Halifax’s brief two-game winning streak.
Halifax’s record drops to 24-21-3-1 while Baie-Comeau improves to 28-15-5-2. The Mooseheads will visit the Maritimes Division leading Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday night at 7pm before returning home on Thursday night to battle the Sherbrooke Phoenix at 7pm.
Tickets are on sale now at the Ticket Atlantic Box Office at Scotiabank Centre, select Superstore Outlets, www.TicketAtlantic.com or by phone at 902-451-1221.
