The Red Wings trounced the Sherwood A&S Scrap Metal Falcons on Saturday night to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinal series. The Red Wings will look to wrap up the series in Game 5 at the Cody Banks Arena in Charlottetown on Tuesday at 8:15 p.m., while the Falcons will look to send the series back to Abram-Village for Game 6 on Sunday, March 17.
Before 325 fans at the Evangeline Recreation Centre, regular-season most valuable player Jeremy Balderston, TJ Campbell and John Ryan Francis held the hot hands for the Red Wings, who erupted for five first-period goals in a span of just under 10 minutes and held period leads of 5-0 and 6-0.
Balderston accumulated seven points on the strength of two goals and five assists, Campbell recorded five helpers while Francis scored four times.
Ben Johnson (1-1), Tyler Clair and Brett Adams rounded out the Red Wings’ scoring. Logan Arsenault (2), Brandon Carter, Lukas Dyment and Taylor Albert added other assists.
Brady Cook (1-2), Craig Dougan (1-2) and Connor Lea replied for the Falcons. Josh Kirkpatrick and Mike Callaghan assisted.
Overall, the Red Wings outshot the Falcons 44-36. Chris Gallant, who stopped all 16 shots he faced in the first period and finished with 33 saves, notched the goaltending win while Falcons starter Devon Cudmore gave up five goals on 16 shots in the opening 20 minutes. Zack Gallant allowed four goals on 28 shots over the final 40 minutes.
