CHARLOTTETOWN – The Charlottetown Islanders are still alive in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs.
Cameron Askew, who was set up by Hunter Drew and Pierre-Olivier Joseph, scored the game-winning goal on the power play 6:08 into the first overtime period to give the Islanders a 3-2 win over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada on Sunday night. The win evens the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League semifinal series 3-3, with the seventh and deciding game scheduled for Boisbriand, Que., on Tuesday night.
Before a soldout Eastlink Centre gathering of 3,674 fans, the Armada was actually just a little over two minutes away from securing a date with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in the league final. But Nikita Alexandrov scored with 2:11 remaining in the third period to tie the game 2-2, and force overtime. In fact, all three games in this series played in Charlottetown required extra time.
Brett Budgell’s power-play goal at 12:37 gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead after one period. Alex Barré-Boulet (4:49) and Alexandre Allain (15:43) scored second-period goals to give the Armada a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.
Winning goaltender Matthew Welsh stopped 16 of 18 shots while the Armada’s Emile Samson had a busier night as he made 36 saves on 39 shots.
Derek Gentile (2), Alexandrov and Budgell also chipped in with assists for the Islanders, who defeated the Quebec Remparts in seven games in Round 1 and swept the Halifax Mooseheads in the second round.
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