SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — The opening act of the Summerside D. Alex MacDonald Ford Western Capitals’ newly-formed No. 1 line was an impressive show, to say the least.
The combination of captain Brodie MacArthur, Kallum Muirhead and Carson MacKinnon, who was making his Caps’ debut, combined for 17 points in an 8-2 victory over the Edmundston Blizzard.
"It was pretty special,” said MacKinnon, who signed with the Caps last weekend after playing 4 ½ years in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and two years at Notre Dame in Wilcox, Sask. “It’s been a long time coming.
“I haven’t been home since Grade 8 and my first year of bantam. It's good to be back here wearing the colours I started with. It was a special night and it was nice to be back with some of the guys I grew up playing with again.”
MacArthur had seven points on the strength of three goals and four assists for a seven-point night. MacKinnon netted a hat trick and added two assists for five points while Muirhead scored once and assisted on four others for five points as well.
“It’s pretty cool,” said MacArthur. “(MacKinnon and I) played together back in the day in peewee and atom. It showed (Thursday) our chemistry is still there.”
Caps head coach Billy McGuigan described the three 20-year-olds as a dominant line.
“Looking at the whole structure of our team, we have to see if those guys can play together or is it better for our team to spread out the scoring,” said McGuigan. “I talked to them about it for a bit.
“We wanted to try them together and I basically told them that if they weren’t lights out we are going to have to spread the depth around. They were exceptional (Thursday).”
Sixth win in a row
Before 1,078 fans at Eastlink Arena, Ed McNeill also scored for the Caps while Jacob Arsenault (2), Zach Biggar, Marc-Andre LeCouffe and Josh MacDonald picked up assists for the Caps, who have won six games in a row and seven of their last eight.
The Capitals, the eighth-ranked team in the Canadian Junior Hockey League rankings this week, improved their Maritime Junior Hockey League-leading record to 30-5-1 (won-lost-overtime losses).
The Caps regained a 10-point lead over the Blizzard (23-8-5) in the overall standings and the Eastlink North Division.Edmundston had cut the deficit to eight points with a 6-1 win over Miramichi (9-23-4) on Wednesday night.
Caps goaltender Dominik Tmej turned in a solid 42-save performance, including 16 in the first period. Jonathan Assayag and Jeremy Duguay scored the Blizzard goals in the last half of the third period.
“At the end of the day, if it wasn’t for Dominik Tmej in the first period we would have been in trouble,” said McGuigan. “It was a massive game for Dom.
“He was outstanding and in the first period we were on our heels and they were coming at us pretty good and were attacking with speed. He settled in and helped us settle in.”
The Caps led 1-0 after the first period on MacKinnon’s first goal as a Western Capital. MacKinnon deposited a rebound after Biggar made a nice play to control the puck and keep it in the offensive zone, skated across the blue-line and found a lane to get a shot through.
The prettiest goal of the night came with 3:53 left in the second period as MacKinnon, MacArthur and Muirhead combined to make it 4-0. MacArthur fed Muirhead, who carried the puck down the left-wing, made a nifty move around an Edmundston defenceman and from the bottom of the circle found a wide-open MacKinnon in the slot and he made no mistake firing it into the empty side of the net.
They combined for another highlight-reel goal at 4:50 of the third period as MacArthur, positioned to the left of the Blizzard goal, one-timed a cross-ice pass from Muirhead into the open side to make it 6-0.
The game’s three stars were:
1. Carson MacKinnon (Caps), 2. Brodie MacArthur (Caps), 3. Dominik Tmej (Caps).
The Capitals are back in action on Saturday against the Fredericton Red Wings (21-13-2). Game time at Eastlink Arena is set for 7 p.m.
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