| Last updated at 12:58 AM on 01/03/08 |
Two third-period goals pace Rocket 
CHARLES REID
The Guardian
Instant Replay
A look at Friday’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game at the Civic
Centre:
The Outcome - P.E.I. 4 Lewiston 2
The Goalscorers - Lewiston: Éric Gélinas (2), Stefan Chaput (27); P.E.I.: Benjamin Casavant 2 (4), Jordon Southorn (11), Mathieu Tousignant (19).
Attendance - 2,255.
Next Up - The Rocket (28-32-2-1) remain at home and host the Halifax Mooseheads (38-20-0-5) on Sunday. Game time is 4 p.m. at the Civic Centre.
By The Numbers
50-50 Draw: $1,015.
Shots By Period: Lewiston: 10-11-2, 23; P.E.I.: 11-13-8, 32.
Power Play: Lewiston: 2-3, 67 per cent; P.E.I.: 1-6, 17 per cent
Broken Sticks: Lewiston: 1.
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THE GAME
It wasn’t pretty, but Mathieu Tousignant will take his game-winning goal in the P.E.I. Rocket’s 4-2 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League victory over the Lewiston Maineiacs
Early in the third period of Friday’s contest at the Civic Centre, Tousignant rushed the Lewiston net and centred the puck hoping for a tip-in from nearby linemate Benjamin Casavant.
But the pass missed Casavant and found the stick of a Maineiacs defenceman. The d-man’s clearing attempt hit the skate of another Maineiacs player in the scrum around the net and deflected past Lewiston goalie Peter Delmas.
“It was an open net. It was lucky,” said the 18-year-old Tousignant of his 19th goal of the season.
It was also a momentum-changing type of score typical of a well-played hockey game where a small thing makes the difference.
And the win’s valuable two points upped the Rocket lead over the Moncton Wildcats to five points in the race for the final Eastern Division playoff spot.
“(With) seven games left we need to win every game because Moncton is a pretty good team, too,” said Tousignant, a native of St-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que. “Everything is about playoffs, practice is about playoffs, games are about playoffs. That’s what we want.”
The teams started strong with hard skating and wide-open play. Goals from Jordon Southorn and Casavant sandwiched a score by Lewiston’s Éric Gélinas and gave P.E.I. a 2-1 lead after the first period.
The second period repeated the back and forth play of the first and included a trio of four-on-fours, although the lone goal came on Lewiston forward Stefan Chaput’s power-play marker 14 minutes into the stanza, tying the game 2-2.
Then Tousignant’s score at 2:09 of the third put the Rocket up for good. Casavant’s second goal of the night, an empty net score off Jan Kana’s unselfish pass, 17 minutes later cemented the win.
Tousignant’s goal was his first game-winner for the Rocket since coming from Baie-Comeau in a January trade. He’s a talker on the ice, a classic agitator, but he has skills (he’s third in team scoring with 48 points).
And he’s continued that role with the Rocket, often unhinging opponents into roughing or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
But, he said, it’s a part reserved for between the boards.
“No, I’m different off the ice than on the ice. Every time I’m on the ice I will play the style of game and I think Serge Savard (Rocket president and governor) got me for… this style. I can score, I can play defensively, I can do what asked of me on the ice. I try to be a complete player,” he said.
Rocket goalie Marc-Antoine Gélinas stopped 21 of 23 shots and moved to 16-17 while Delmas dropped to 17-17.
creid@theguardian.pe.ca
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