QMJHL's Islanders take one point in 4-3 overtime loss to Wildcats
- reegmacaulay
- Mar 9, 2024
- 4 min read
March 9, 2024
The Charlottetown Islanders (24-30-5-2) failed to clutch but still salvaged one point in their first home game in two weeks, losing 4-3 in overtime against the Moncton Wildcats (35-19-4-3) in Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League action at the Eastlink Centre on Saturday, March 9.
The Islanders had a strong start to the game with two goals in the first six and a half minutes, but the rest of the way, many turnovers and sloppy plays helped the Wildcats come back to take a 3-2 lead late in the third period. Despite Charlottetown tying the game with 1:07 remaining, Moncton was far superior in overtime, taking advantage of a turnover and claiming their 35th win of the regular season.
Islanders head coach Jim Hulton was happy the team walked away with one point.
"I'm impressed with one point. Down with four minutes to go and to be able to have the gumption and the character to come back, I think that's what I'll walk away from here, and yes, the extra point's a bonus point.
"We ran out of gas. We knew we got a little depleted on the backend in the last five minutes, so to get a point out of it I think was fortunate. I thought we played a really good game, I thought it was a good hockey game. A couple egregious errors with the puck which we'd like to have back. But it's guys trying to do the right thing and I can live with that," Hulton said.
Islanders captain Marcus Kearsey said every point is valuable at this stage of the season. The second-year defenseman recorded one goal, seven shots, and a -3 plus/minus rating.
"It's more of just a playoff vision. We're looking for early April to come and just trying to do the right things to prepare for (the playoffs)," Kearsey said.
The game was very offensive as each team combined for 78 shots, with Charlottetown firing 42 at goaltender Keegan Warren versus Moncton's 36 at goaltender Aksels Ozols. Both goaltenders combined to stop 71 shots.
Coach Hulton said the team had the luxury of Ozols playing well.
Kearsey got the Islanders on the board first with a power-play goal in the first period at 3:35, his seventh goal of the season assisted by Anton Topilnyckyj and Cole Huckins. Rookie defenseman Owen Conrad added a goal three minutes later to extend the team's lead, scoring his sixth of the season and first since Nov. 17, 2023, assisted by Alexis Michaud and Ross Campbell.
The second period was a goaltender's duel as each team combined for 30 shots, and only one was a goal. The Wildcats took advantage of multiple turnovers in the final minute and Miles Muller scored on a rebound for his 26th goal of the season with one second remaining, closing the gap to one goal.
Charlottetown continued to mishandle the puck in the third period as Wildcats defenseman and Calgary Flames (NHL) prospect Etienne Morin scored his 10th goal of the season at 5:18, tying the game 2-2. But the worst was yet to come.
Kearsey attempted a pass from behind the net but the puck was intercepted by Wildcats forward Julius Sumpf, who fired a shot over Ozols' glove with ease, giving Moncton a 3-2 lead with 4:46 remaining in the period.
The Islanders found new luck one minute later as Wildcats rookie forward and 2023 QMJHL first overall pick Caleb Desnoyers was handed a double minor penalty for high-sticking. Charlottetown fired shot after shot as time wound down, but goaltender Warren stood tall. Eventually, Islanders captain Michael Horth was the hero, jamming the puck past Warren with 1:07 remaining for his 31st goal of the season, tying the game 3-3.
The rally luck ran out in overtime as, with 1:30 remaining, defenseman Adam Fortier-Gendron finished a nice tic-tac-toe play with Desnoyers and forward Yoan Loshing, giving Moncton the win.
The final shots were 42-36 in favour of the Islanders. Aksels Ozols stopped 32 of 36 shots and was named the third star of the game. Keegan Warren stopped 39 of 42 shots and was named the first star of the game. Fortier-Gendron was named the second star. Charlottetown went 2-for-5 on the power play and Moncton went 0-for-3.
Charlottetown dropped to 24-30-5-2 and remains eighth in the Eastern Conference while Moncton improved to 35-19-4-3 and remains third in the Eastern Conference.
Now eight points behind the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (28-27-3-4), the Islanders will have a lot of catching up to do in their playoff push as they visit Bathurst, N.B. to play the Titan at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 10.
Charlottetown is 3-4-0-0 against Acadie-Bathurst this season, with two wins coming in Bathurst on Oct. 4, 2023 and Jan. 28, 2024.
Coach Hulton said the mindset going into Sunday's game is building on the positives.
"We did a lot of good things (on Saturday). We had great goaltending from Aksels. I expect the same from (Carter) Bickle (on Sunday), he's been really good for us. If we just keep playing tight hockey, good checking. I think we have to manage the puck a little bit better than we did (on Saturday). Just build on the positives and move on," Hulton said.
Hulton said the complexion of the rest of the schedule forces both Ozols and Bickle to play games, answering a question about the goaltender's plan with few games left.
"We'll see if there's a realistic shot of moving up or if we're stuck. If that's the case, it might alternate the plan," Hulton said.
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