Cats bounce back
Published Thursday November 27th, 2008
Moncton beats P.E.I. Rocket in 3-2 come-from-behind win
CHARLOTTETOWN - It was another win in the books, but far from a textbook performance.
The Moncton Wildcats were on their heels for much of the game, but rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the third period for a 3-2 victory over the Prince Edward Island Rocket in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action last night in front of 2,073 fans at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
Brandon Gormley, a native of Murray River, P.E.I., came back to his home province and scored the winner on the power play at 15:20 of the third period. He snapped a 2-2 tie by firing a slapshot from the top of the left faceoff circle past P.E.I. goaltender Bobby Nadeau.
"For me to score the game winner here, it's pretty special,'' said Gormley. "P.E.I. always plays us tough and this was another hard-fought game. We were shaky at times tonight, but (goaltender Nicola) Riopel held us in there when we needed him. It's good to get back on track with another road win.''
Moncton, 20-2-2-1, is first in the Atlantic Division and second overall in the QMJHL. The Wildcats, No. 5 in the Canadian Hockey League rankings, had just one win in four games leading up to last night.
The Wildcats improved to 11-2-0-1 on the road. They won their first 10 road games of the season, but then dropped their next three outings in enemy territory.
Riopel moved into third place in career wins for a Wildcats goaltender with 50. He made several key saves, including stopping Benjamin Casavant in the dying seconds to prevent the game from going into overtime.
The Wildcats will face the Halifax Mooseheads tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Moncton Coliseum. It's the annual Medavie Blue Cross Charity Bear Night -- fans are asked to throw teddy bears on the ice after Moncton's first goal and the club will deliver the stuffed toys to less fortunate children in the region.
"We started the game off pretty well in the first 10 minutes and then we went into a bit of a funk,'' said Wildcats centre Randy Cameron. "I'm not sure what happened, but definitely we weren't as sharp as we would've liked in this game.
"We played a lot in our own zone and usually defensive play is our strong point. That's definitely something we have to work on because the last couple of games we haven't been great defensively. The positive thing, though, is that even though we didn't play our best we still found a way to get the win.''
Pierre-Marc Lessard and Scott Brannon rounded out the scoring for Moncton. Lessard extended both his goals streak and points streak to four games.
Chris Doyle, who's second in the league scoring race, countered with both goals for P.E.I., which held a 30-22 shots edge. The Rocket, 11-13-1-4, are fifth in the Atlantic Division.
On the power play, Moncton was 1-for-3 and P.E.I. was 1-for-4. The Wildcats are 4-0-0-0 in the season series between these clubs, but three of these wins were by a one-goal margin with two decided in a shootout.
The Wildcats turned the puck over repeatedly in the neutral zone, sometimes gave up the puck without being pressured and often looked out of sync. Their veterans also took some bad penalties, all things that haven't been characteristic for this club.
"I think their coach did a good job preparing them,'' said Cameron. "They seemed to be pinching on us every time we got the puck in the neutral zone. They were pressuring us and making things tough for us.
"It all comes down to us communicating better with each other on the ice and being each other's eyes out there. It's definitely a good sign for us that we can not have a great game and still win.''
P.E.I. carried the play with an 11-4 shots edge in the first period. Moncton spent most of the frame in defensive mode just trying to clear its own zone, but it was tied 1-1 at the intermission.
The Wildcats opened the summary at 4:08 when Simon Jodoin's wrist shot from the blueline was redirected by Lessard near the goalmouth. They had trouble getting through the neutral zone and generated very little offensively for the remainder of the period.
The Rocket made it 1-1 at 11:20 when Doyle redirected a screened shot.
P.E.I. held a 10-9 shots edge in an evenly played second period and scored the lone goal.
The Wildcats were on the power play for the opening 1:36, but didn't threaten.
The Rocket had back-to-back power plays late in the frame and cashed in with 12 seconds remaining on the second opportunity to grab a 2-1 lead at 18:24. Doyle scored on a screened wrist shot from about 15 feet inside the blueline.
Riopel made a nice save on Jeremiah Coon-Come's shot from point-blank range a few minutes before that goal. The Wildcats had their best scoring chance of the second period in the dying seconds, but Matt Lahey's close-range shot was stopped by Nadeau.
It was a 9-9 shots total in the third period and Moncton created a 2-2 tie at 3:52. Zach Sill worked the puck free at the side of the net, sent a pass across the goalmouth and Brannon converted.
The Wildcats found themselves in trouble when veterans Sill and Mark Barberio took undisciplined penalties at 6:01 and 7:39. But they escaped that unscathed and set the stage for Gormley's winning goal with 4:40 remaining.
Danny Flynn moved into fourth place in career wins for a Moncton head coach with his 40th.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game,'' he said. "You've got to give P.E.I. a lot of credit. They worked really hard, they were very physical and they pinched down on us. But to our credit we found a way to get the win."
Cat Tracks
This week's Canadian Hockey League rankings: 1. Windsor Spitfires (OHL); 2. Shawinigan Cataractes (QMJHL); 3. Calgary Hitmen (WHL); 4. Vancouver Giants (WHL); 5. Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL); 6. London Knights (OHL); 7. Brampton Battalion (OHL); 8. Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL); 9. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (QMJHL); 10. Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL).
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