Titan continues to roll on the road
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan continued their winning ways on the road using a four-goal first period to propel them to a six-to-four victory over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night at Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S. improving to 3-0-1 on the five-game trek across the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s map.
Despite falling behind early thanks to a goal inside the first two minutes of the game, Olivier Desjardins would blast home a huge rebound off Kynan Berger’s initial shot for his third goal on the year. Aaron Brisebois would pick up an assist on a big shift by the Titan’s fourth line. Vladimir Kuznetsov would score just 80 seconds later for his 16th of the year from Chirstophe Boivin and Zachary Malatesta to make it a 2-1 game. Just past the mid-way point of the first period, Antoine Morand managed to tip home a point shot by Adam Holwell for his 19th goal of the season, which also counted as his 100th career point in the QMJHL. Kuznetsov picked up his second point of the game, assisting on the marker to make it 3-1 Titan.
With 2:35 remaining in the first period, former Titan Giovanni Fiore would score to bring the Screaming Eagles within a goal, but ten seconds later would see Daniil Miromanov score off the faceoff won by Dawson Theede for his 15th of the year to send the Titan into the break leading by a four-to-two score.
The second period saw the two teams trade goals in a period largely controlled by the Screaming Eagles, however it was Dawson Theede scoring his 22nd of the season from Rodrigo Abols that would give the Titan a 5-2 lead with 3:38 remaining in the period before Mathias Laferrière once again making it a two-goal game once again with a power play marker at the end of 40 minutes of play.
Despite coming within a goal of the Titan thanks to Phélix Martineau’s power play goal just past the mid-way point of the third period, it would be as close as the Screaming Eagles would get as Titan captain Jeffrey Viel would fire his 30th goal of the season into an empty net to seal the 6-4 victory for the Titan.
Anthony Dumont-Bouchard made 23 saves on 27 shots faced to see his record improve to 12-7 on the season while Kyle Jessiman allowed five goals on 31 shots to see his record fall to 15-18.
Special Teams saw the Titan unsuccessful on their lone power play of the game while the Screaming Eagles were two-for-five with the man advantage
QUICK HITS
Christophe Boivin passed Jonathan Ferland for sole possession of 10th all-time in assists by an Acadie-Bathurst Titan player with his assist Friday night. His 102 assists now has him five behind Sébastien Trudeau for ninth on the list.
Antoine Morand reached the 100-point plateau with his first period goal. The goal also extends Morand’s point streak to 12 games and gives him back-to-back 50-point seasons. In 97 career QMJHL games, Morand now has 33 goals and 67 assists – 6G 13A during his streak.
Dawson Theede’s two-point night gives him 40 points on the year in his 46th game played, making him the sixth Titan player this season to reach the mark. He continues his breakout season after only having seven points in 49 games played last year split between the Titan and the Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Acadie-Bathurst Titan will return home before their beloved fans for the first time in over two weeks this coming Wednesday when they host the division-leading Saint John Sea Dogs at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre. Tickets are on sale at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre box office, by phone at 549-3200 or 1-877-549-3200 and online at admission.com.
