CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Elliot Desnoyers scored at 3:23 of overtime to lift the Moncton Wildcats to a 3-2 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday night.
The regular-season opener for both Quebec Major Junior Hockey League teams was played before 2,837 fans at Eastlink Centre in P.E.I.’s capital city.
The Islanders led 1-0 after the first period and the teams entered the final 20 minutes of regulation time tied 1-1. Thomas Casey’s second goal of the game 2:12 into the third period gave the Islanders their second one-goal lead of the night, but Mika Cyr answered right back for the Wildcats at 4:33 to even the score.
Kyle Foreman netted Moncton’s other goal.
Zachary Beauregard and Noah Laaouan added assists for the Islanders, who held a slim 28-27 shots-on-goal advantage. Olivier Rodrigue was the winning goaltender and Matthew Welsh took the loss.
The Wildcats were 1-for-2 with the man advantage while the Islanders failed to score on their three power plays.
The game’s three stars were:
1. Thomas Casey (Islanders), 2. Olivier Rodrigue (Wildcats), 3. Elliot Desnoyers (Wildcats).
The Islanders host the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday at 7 p.m. Halifax dropped a 4-3 road decision to the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday night.
P.E.I. players
Elsewhere in the QMJHL on Friday night, forward Carson MacKinnon of Summerside earned three assists to help the Gatineau Olympiques to a 7-4 victory over the Drummondville Voltigeurs.
Defenceman Cole Larkin of Mermaid assisted on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan’s goal in a 3-1 loss to the Cape Breton Eagles.
