GAME RECAP: Titan down Wildcats in OT thriller

The Acadie-Bathurst Titan faced adversity early on Saturday night on the road against the Moncton Wildcats. But that didn’t stop the Titan from pulling away with thrilling 3-2 win in overtime at the Avenir Centre in front of an energetic crowd for the Wildcats 2024 Home Opener.

David-Alexandre Coulombe and Colby Huggan suffered roughing and cross-checking infractions as the Titan went on a five-on-three penalty kill early.

Timely saves from goaltender, Josh Fleming helped the Titan shorthanded unit kill the penalties off. Blake Pilgrim-Edwards also received a blindside hit penalty. However, being shorthanded doesn’t seem to bother Mathieu St-Onge. The 19-year-old skated through multiple Wildcat defenders before roofing one past Jacob Steinman. It was the first time the Titan have opened the scoring this season. The highlight reel tally put the Titan up one after the first.

The second period started the exact same. The Titan killed off a lengthy five-on-three.  Moments later, Preston Lounsbury would receive a penalty shot after being tripped up on a partial breakaway. Lounsbury faked to the backhand, beat Fleming to knot the game up at one. Just over 11 minutes into the second, the Titan would go to the powerplay. After a lot of chaos in front of the Wildcat net, rookie forward Coulombe would bank the puck off Steinman to give the Titan the lead. The powerplay marker was Coulombe’s first in the QMJHL. He was claimed off waivers from the Rimouski Oceanic earlier this season. After two periods of play, the Titan would take a 2-1 lead to the dressing room.

Moncton came out of the gate firing rubber at Fleming. The 20-year-old goaltender stood on his head in the third period, sprawling out to save a puck on the line that had to go under review. In the end, the chance was called no goal. The Titan would get a powerplay less than eight minutes into the third. Julius Sumpf stole the puck in the Titan end before putting home the shorthanded wraparound to tie the game at two. The two New Brunswick based teams would trade high quality scoring chances. With just seven seconds to go, Tyson Goguen would take a delay of game penalty after flipping the puck over the glass. The Wildcats couldn’t finish, so for the first time this season, the Titan faced overtime.

Late in the Titan penalty kill, St-Onge turned on the jets. He beat Steinman high glove side for his second of the game and third of the season to secure the win for the Titan as the team improve to 3-0. It was St-Onge’s second shorthanded goal of the game.