CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Rookie Lukas Cormier scored the winner with six minutes to play in the third period Saturday as the Charlottetown Islanders took a 2-0 series lead with a 6-4 victory against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League first-round series goes Tuesday in Sydney, N.S.
Cormier scored from the point through a maze of players after taking a pass from Hunter Drew.
“The boys did a good job of getting the goalie’s eyes away and I just put the puck at the net and tried not to get it blocked,” he said.
“It was a great feeling,” he added. “A lot of guys played well. Matt (Welsh) had some great saves, (Brendon Clavelle) with a big block at the end and (Daniel) Hardie had two goals. It was a great team effort.”
The Islanders built 2-0 and 4-2 period leads, but the Screaming Eagles clawed back with Leon Gawanke scoring a power-play goal two minutes into the third and Kyle Havlena tying it 4:24 later.
Islanders forward Kevin Gursoy said there wasn’t panic on the bench as the game was tied.
“We kept the foot on the gas and ended up going back up again,” he said.
Islanders head coach Jim Hulton said the veterans did a good job of keeping even keeled and their messaging on the bench was strong.
“The stretch run (during) the last month taught us a lot about sticking with it,” he said.
There are many twists and turns during a junior hockey game, and the team tries to look ahead as opposed to dwelling on the past.
“It’s easy to say, not always easy to do, but this group has really seemed to embrace that approach,” Hulton said.
Former Islanders forward Mitchell Balmas was proud of his team’s resolve.
“During the game we were down two goals (twice), but we never gave up. There’s no quit and we showed that all year,” he said. “We’re going to keep going. We’re going to focus on playing a full 60 minutes here coming back on our home ice.”
Hardie had two goals and an assist while linemates Gursoy and Nikita Alexandrov each had a goal and an assist. Zac Beauregard iced it with an empty-net goal with 45.5 seconds left after Clavelle blocked a shot and Brett Budgell dived to ensure the puck got out of the zone.
Hunter Drew, Jordan Maher, Liam Peyton, Colin Van Den Hurk, Drew Johnston, Budgell and Cormier each had an assist.
Gawanke led the Screaming Eagles with a goal and two assists. Balmas and Mathias Laferriere each had a goal and an assist while Havlena had the other goal. Olivier Bourret and Egor Sokolov each added an assist.
Matthew Welsh made 30 saves for the win while Kevin Mandolese stopped 28 shots in the loss.
Cape Breton went 2-for-5 on the power play while Charlottetown was 0-for-2.
Around the league
Here's a look at the first-round playoff series after Saturday's results:
Eastern Conference
Quebec (8) is leading Halifax (1) 2-0.
Baie-Comeau (2) and Moncton (7) are tied 1-1.
Rimouski (3) is leading Chicoutimi (6) 2-0 with both games going to overtime. Saturday's went to quadruple overtime.
Charlottetown (4) is leading Cape Breton (5) 2-0.
Western Conference
Rouyn-Noranda (1) and Shawinigan (8) are tied 1-1.
Drummondville (2) leads Gatineau (7) 2-0.
Sherbrooke (3) and Blainville-Boisbriand are tied 1-1.
Victoriaville (4) leads Val-d'Or (5) 1-0.
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