MONCTON, N.B. – The Charlottetown Islanders erased an early 4-0 deficit to earn a point in a 6-5 overtime loss to the Moncton Wildcats Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
Rookie Alexander Khovanov scored 11 seconds into the extra frame for the winner.
Summerside’s Jeremy McKenna got the host Wildcats off to a good start, scoring 1:13 into the contest. Jacob Hudson scored four minutes later and James Phelan added two more before the game was 10 minutes in.
Sam King, Taylor Egan and Nikita Alexandrov scored five minutes apart to get the Islanders back into the contest.
Moncton led 4-3 going to the second period but Islanders defenceman Saku Vesterinen scored twice to give the visitors a 5-4 lead. Mika Cyr at 7:18 of the middle frame tied it.
Jakob Pelletier had two assists while McKenna added one for Moncton.
Brett Budgell and Derek Gentile each had two helpers for Charlottetown while singles went to Noah Massie, Hunter Drew and Keith Getson.
Mark Grametbauer made 19 saves on 21 shots in 45 minutes of relief for the win. Matthew Waite, who started for Moncton, allowed three goals on nine shots in 15:32.
Matthew Welsh stopped 16 of 21 shots he faced in 47:13 for the loss. Dakota Lund-Cornish played 13 minutes of relief, stopping nine of 10 shots.
Moncton improved to 23-21-5-3 while Charlottetown falls to 28-18-4-0.
The Islanders host the Maritimes Division-leading Halifax Mooseheads (33-12-5-1) Tuesday at 7 p.m., the league-leading Blainville-Boisbriand Armada (36-9-3-1) on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Saturday at 3 p.m.
