MONCTON, N.B. – Veteran Daniel Hardie had his second game-winning goal in as many nights Friday in Moncton as the Charlottetown Islanders defeated the Wildcats 4-3.
The game-winning goal came 12:14 into the third period as the Isles won for the 16th time in their last 19 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League games. Friday’s contest was the Islanders first trip to the brand new Avenir Centre.
"It was a really good road win," Isles head coach Jim Hulton said. "It was a good chararcter win. . . a really, really sound, smart positional game. I thought we did a great job of limiting their grade-A chances. It was our play away from the puck that was most impressive for me."
Jonathan Aspirot scored twice, once on the power play and once shorthanded, for the host Wildcats while Jakob Pelletier tallied a game-tying goal with the man advantage 6:33 into the third. Cornwall’s Jordan Spence, Alexander Khovanov, Mika Cyr, Elliot Desnoyers and Adam Capannelli each had an assist.
Islanders rookie defenceman Lukas Cormier from nearby Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, N.B., Kevin Gursoy and Keith Getson scored. Blue-liners Brendon Clavelle and captain Pierre-Olivier Joseph, plus forward Derek Gentile each had two helpers while Getson and Liam Peyton each contributed one.
"You need your big guys to come up at key moments and Hards did that," Hulton said. "We were led by our veterans, Getson was big again."
Matthew Welsh stopped 20 shots for the victory while Francis Leclerc made 30 saves in the loss.
"He made two really big (saves) at the end," Hulton said. "We had some guys sacrificing and blocking shots; Clavelle with a real big block on Jeremy McKenna with 10 seconds to go. . . You can see the guys that have won before and knows what it takes are starting to lead by example."
Moncton led 2-1 after the first period but trailed 3-2 heading to the third.
The Wildcats went 2-for-4 with the man advantage while the Islanders were 0-for-4 on the power play.
Charlottetown improved to 19-7-2-1 while Moncton, which started the day atop the Eastern Conference, is 21-9-2-0.
Friday’s game was Hulton’s final one with the Isles until the new year. He leaves Sunday for Victoria, B.C., as part of Team Canada’s coaching staff for the world junior tournament. Joseph leaves Monday for the selection camp.
"It's hard to leave. It's exciting to think (about) the opportunity I'm going into but by the same token, we're on a really nice run here and it's a credit to our players," Hulton said. "Their sacrifice, their dedication and their hard work is starting to pay off. It's been a fun ride and we look forward to a lot more success in the second half."
The Islanders host the Halifax Mooseheads Sunday at 3 p.m.
