Fortier stays hot but herd lose in Blainville

A strange bounce off the end boards early in the third period led to the game winning goal for the Armada on Saturday night in a 4-2 win over the Mooseheads in Blainville-Boisbriand.

TJ Melancon’s shot went wide to the right of Halifax goaltender Eric Brassard and bounced back out to his left where Kristian Pospisil jumped on the loose puck and beat the unsuspecting 20-year-old just 1:15 into the final period to give the Armada a 3-2 lead.

Alexandre Delisle-Houde notched his second of the night about 2 minutes and 30 seconds later when he tipped a point shot from Charlier Roy and Blainville coasted the rest of the way.

Despite the loss there were some bright spots for the Mooseheads who battled hard yet again but just couldn’t find a way to come away with the “W.”

Max Fortier earned his team leading 11th point of the season when he picked up an assist on a goal from defenceman J-S Taillefer. Fortier now has six goals and five assists to sit in the top ten in league scoring. His point comes one night after scoring a pair in a loss to Sherbrooke.

Alexandre Delisle-Houde got the home team out to a 1-0 lead just over four minutes into the game when his shot from the bottom of the circle beat Eric Brassard.

The Mooseheads evened things up with 5:30 to go in the frame when Cavan Fitzgeraldcarried the puck up the ice, undressing the Armada defencemen and wired a wrist shot past Samuel Montembeault with Brassard picking up the lone assist.

Blainville made Halifax pay on the power play during the third straight man advantage of the period for the home squad as TJ Melancon’s point shot got through traffic to beat Brassard and give the Armada a 2-1 lead.

The Herd fought back once again as Taillefer scored his second goal of the season with just 41 seconds to play in the second period. The red hot Max Fortier picked up the assist – giving the forward a team best 11 points on the year.

That would prove to be all of the goal scoring for Halifax as Blainville’s two quick tallies in the third were the difference.

Brassard ended his night with 21 saves, while Montembeault also stopped 21.

Melancon was named the first star of the game, Delisle-Houde the second star and Danny Moynihan grabbed third star honours. Moynihan didn’t register a point but was around the net throughout the game and had three shots on goal.

Halifax went 1-for-3 with the man advantage while Blainville tallied once in five opportunities.

Timo Meier missed the game with a lower body injury. The Moose Captain is listed as day-to-day.

Rookie Arnaud Durandeau took Meier’s spot on the top line with the Moynihan brothers.

Vince Watt, Otto Somppi and Max Fortier were together on the second line again after producing another four points against Sherbrooke.

Ilya Putintsev, Andrew Shewfelt and Brett Crossley made up the third line and Dominik Blain drew back into the lineup with Kelly Bent and Barrett Dachyshyn on the fourth line.

The Mooseheads defensive pairings were Taylor Ford with Cavan Fitzgerald, Morgan Nauss and Cody Donaghey while Domenico Argento dressed for the first time since the season opener with J-S Taillefer on his left side.

Cooper Jones, Walter Flower, Joel Bishop and Meier were the scratches.

The road trip wraps up on Sunday afternoon at 4pm AST when the Herd face off with the Voltigeurs in Drummondville. Listen to the game online on News957.com.