Mike MacIsaac of O’Leary scored at 17:58 of the third period to break a 3-3 tie and send the Panthers to a 4-3 win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men. Game 2 in the best-of-three quarter-final series is at MacLauchlan Arena on the UPEI campus on Friday night.
It was a back-and-forth game as Matthew Brenton opened the game’s scoring 1:19 into the contest for the Panthers, who outshot the X-Men 52-37.
The X-Men answered back with a pair of special team goals – a power-play marker by Spencer McAvoy at 2:21 and an unassisted short-handed effort by Brad Cuzner at 9:12 – to take a 2-1 lead in the second period. However, it was a short-lived lead as Jordan Mayer connected for a power-play goal 16 seconds after Cuzner scored to pull the Panthers even.
Travis McIsaac’s power-play goal 48 seconds into the third put the Panthers in front 3-2. The score remained that way until 15:59, when Cole Grbavac’s unassisted effort tied the game for the X-Men.
Brenton, Alex Wall, Dana Fraser, Matthew Maione, Reggie Traccitto and Jordan Knox of Skinners Pond also chipped in with other assists for the Panthers.
Wayne Savage earned the goaltending win over Joseph Perricone.
A total of seven minor penalties were called in the game – seven of those against the X-Men.
