CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Thomas Casey and Cédric Desruisseaux each had four-point nights Saturday as the Charlottetown Islanders blasted the Cape Breton Eagles 8-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
The overage teammates are one-two in league scoring with Desruisseaux having 49 points (28 goals, 21 assists) and Casey 46 (21 goals, 25 assists). Each has played 24 games. Victoriaville’s Shawn Element, who started the year with the Eagles, is third with 31 points in 19 games.
Desruisseaux, Pat Guay and Brendan McCarthy each had two goals in Saturday’s win at the Eastlink Centre while Brendan McCarthy, Lukas Cormier and Casey each added one. Casey had three assists, captain Brett Budgell, Patrick LeBlanc, Will Trudeau and Desruisseaux each had two while singles were credited to Noah Laaouan, Sam Oliver, Braeden Virtue, Guay and Cormier.
Dawson Stairs and Liam Kidney replied with Cape Breton’s goals. Nathan Larose, Émile Hegarty-Aubin, Mark Rumsey and Lucas Canning each had an assist.
Colten Ellis made 24 saves for the win while rookie Nicolas Ruccia allowed six goals on 23 shots in 33 minutes of action before William Grimard took over and stopped 14 of 16 shots in relief.
Charlottetown, which held 2-0 and 6-1 period leads, went 3-for-6 on the power play while Cape Breton was 1-for-5.
The Islanders won their fifth straight game to improve to 20-4-0-0 while the Eagles fall to 10-13-0-0. Cape Breton plays the Mooseheads (8-12-3-3) Sunday at 4 p.m. in Halifax. The Isles return to action next Saturday in Sydney, N.S., against the Eagles.
