Charlottetown wins in shootout

QUEBEC CITY, P.Q. —Leading by two after forty minutes of play, the Islanders saw Quebec coming back in the third with two goals on power plays to tie the score 2-2. As neither team was able to score the goal that gave the win to one or the other team, Charlottetown got the last words scoring twice in shootout leading them to 3-2 win over Quebec Remparts. Sam King and Sullivan Sparkes got the two goals that made the difference in favor of the Maritimes team.

Charlottetown-defenseman-Saku-Vasterinen-spend-lots-of-times-on-the-ice-playing-key-role-on-defense-photo-courtesy-of-Remi-Garneau-of-infosortquebec

Charlottetown opened the scoring with 18.3 seconds remaining in first period. Making the save on first shot from the blue line by Saku Vasterinen, unable to control the rebound, Quebec goalie Dereck Baribeau, saw Charlottetown best scorer Keith Getson, pushing the puck behind goalie for the only goal of the period.

Quebec thought they had tied the score with 11:00 minutes remaining in second period; forward Olivier Garneau thought he had scored his 11th goal of the season on backhanded shot, but referee Simon Tartre, waved-off the goal due to goalie interference.

Visitors got an excellent chance to add to their lead with Charlottetown getting a four-on-three power play followed by a five-on-four power play following a four-minute penalty for spearing to Olivier Mathieu. Charlottetown was 0-in-5 with a man advantage.

Charlottetown added a second goal to their lead as Thomas Casey came from behind the net, his shot deflected on Quebec defenseman Benjamin Gagne before going in at 15:46.

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Trailing by two Quebec, going 0-in-5 with a man advantage after two periods Quebec ended 2-in-8 scoring their two goals on three power play opportunities in the third to bring both teams to square one forcing to play an overtime period. Unable to get the goal that put an end to the game they needed to go in shootout before determining the winner.

Having gone scoreless in his last eight games Quebec left winger Luke Kirwan beat Charlottetown goaltender Matthew Welsh on his right side at 7:35. Quebec second goal came from the stick of Olivier Mathieu beating Islanders netminder on his blocker side at 16:54.

Charlottetown thought they had scored the goal that could have given the win late in the third but referee Eric Charon wave-off the goal, saying the Charlottetown player Gregor MacLoad scored with his hand.

Quebec began the overtime playing four-on-three following a penalty to Sam King for hooking but Quebec wasn’t able to put the puck behind Welsh.

Sam King and Sullivan Sparkes beat Quebec netminder in shootout, on the other side Welsh stopped Derek Gentile and Jeremy Laframboise to register a 3-2 win in shootout.

“It was a real big victory for us,” admitted Charlottetown head coach Jim Hulton. “Especially after the team loses last night, Saku Vesterinen and Keith Getson played very well for us. Matthew Welsh made really big saves keeping us in the game.”

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“Yes we came back but Boucher (Matthew, Quebec captain) is a key piece in our offense, missing him for the overtime and the shootout. We could saw it last Wednesday as he scored important goal in shootout to give us the win.” Quebec left winger Olivier Mathieu said after the game. “Leading by two or three is I think the worse lead you can have, because if the other team scores it cut your lead in half and momentum of the game can change. We scored a goal, Luke (Kirwan) scored big goal the other team was shaky, we took the momentum, we took a chance, they took a penalty, we deserve our chance and we did scored to tie the game. But it showed the way we played, we didn’t played like the Quebec Remparts of the beginning of the year.”

Quebec head coach wasn’t able to give reporters more detail about the loss of Quebec captain Matthew Boucher in the third period after Boucher has been hit by a shot from teammate Luke Kirwan during a Quebec power play. Boucher tried to come back but was unable to continue as he left for clinic or hospital for more X-ray.

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“No idea,” answered Quebec head coach Philippe Boucher if he is loss for long period yes it will be a big loss, he left for the clinic or hospital for more exam. I don’t want to make any comment on referring, it cost me big time in the pass. It was a goal, I can do the same as Chicoutimi head coach Yanick Jean, if was a goal. I you talked about the Robidoux’s goal, it was a good goal, but we have had our chances after that. I have hard time to qualify the way we played, usually my idea was very clear if we play good, bad, if we are tired. We didn’t have had good start. We talked to each other as coaches, was it a good time to give them some talk? The answer was yes so we talked to them eyes to eyes, I liked the way they answered, I like the way we began the second periods, but the goal hurt us, the four minutes to Mathieu hurt us to the waved-off goal. In the third we did not stopped playing, Gentile hit the post at the end, so I didn’t know.” Continued Boucher.

Quebec will end his weekend hosting Saint John on Sunday.

Five other games were on QMJHL schedule on Saturday night

Rimouski 6 vs. Shawinigan 4

Sherbrooke 4 vs. Baie-Comeau 3

Val-d’Or 2 vs. Halifax 4

Rouyn-Noranda 4 vs. Moncton 2

Saint John 1 vs. Drummondville 3

Contact the author at: serge.poulin@prohockeynews.com