SYDNEY, N.S. — A late double minor penalty cost the Cape Breton Eagles in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at Centre 200 on Friday night.
Forward Cole Fraser was given a four-minute penalty for high-sticking at 15:33 of the third period, which ultimately led to Markus Vidicek’s game-winning goal at 17:54, leading the Halifax Mooseheads to a 3-2 win.
Justin Barron and Elliot Desnoyers also scored goals for the Mooseheads (10-13-3-3).
Dawson Stairs and Félix Paré replied with goals for the Eagles (11-14-1-0).
Halifax’s Brady James made 38 saves. Cape Breton’s Nicolas Ruccia stopped 20 of 23 shots.
After a scoreless first period, Cape Breton opened the scoring in the second period with Stairs netting his 10th goal of the season at 19:11 of the frame.
The Mooseheads answered at 1:53 of the third period with Barron’s point shot beating Ruccia through a screen on the power play, before Desnoyers gave Halifax their first lead of the game, sliding home his 14th of the season less than two minutes later.
Cape Breton tied the game with a power play goal of their own with Paré tapping the puck past James for his fifth of the campaign, before Vidicek’s goal late in the final stanza.
The Eagles outshot Halifax 40-23 while going 1-for-6 on the power play. Halifax was 2-for-6 with the man-advantage, which included two four-minute power plays.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions in the Halifax Regional Municipality, the game marked the Mooseheads’ final contest until at least March 26.
As for the Eagles, they will return to action on Saturday when they host the Charlottetown Islanders at 4 p.m. at Centre 200 in Sydney.
GAMES NOTES: Jarrett Baker, Davis Cooper, Jérémy Langlois, Logan Camp and Zach Welsh all missed Friday’s game with upper-body injuries… Jacob Santerre returned to the lineup after being out with an upper-body injury; Cape Breton called up forward Kian Bell (Dartmouth) and Michael McQauid (Yarmouth) for the contest.
- Jeremy Fraser is the sports reporter for the Cape Breton Post. Follow Jeremy on Twitter @CBPost_Jeremy.
