CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The Charlottetown Islanders hope to get in playoff mode a bit early this season.
The Isles (35-24-7-0) play their final two regular season games at home, tonight against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (42-15-7-2) at 7 p.m. and the Moncton Wildcats (27-31-5-3) Saturday at 3 p.m.
“We’re essentially going to look at these two like they’re our first two playoff games and really test ourselves. We want make sure we’re ready,” Islanders head coach Jim Hulton said Thursday. “The mindset, the approach, the intensity, we want all those things at playoff level this weekend.”
The Islanders are in ninth place in the standings with 77 points and appear destined to play either Quebec or Rouyn-Noranda in the first round of the playoffs.
“We’d love to get to the 80-point plateau, and we’d also like to make sure that we don't drop (in the standings).”
But, more importantly, the team wants to be on a roll and feeling good about its game heading into the post-season.
“The only way to do that, to me, is to ramp it up,” Hulton said. “The fewer . . . games left on the docket, the easier it is to get cranked up.”
The Islanders forward lines have been shuffled a bit recently.
The Brett Budgell-Nikita Alexandrov-Derek Gentile line remains intact. Cam Askew has re-joined Pascal Aquin and Keith Getson, while Daniel Hardie is skating with Sam King and Thomas Casey. The fourth line has Cayse Ton, Sullivan Sparkes, Nathaniel Doyon and Liam Peyton sharing the spots.
The Titan is one of the league’s hottest teams, having won eight in a row and compiling a 9-1-0-0 record in its last 10 games. They can clinch the Maritimes Division and second in the overall standings with a win tonight.
“They’re loaded for bear and they are worthy of their spot in the standings right now,” Hulton said. “You can’t start trading chances. You can’t be giving up breakaways and 2-on-1s.”
Hulton said his team also has to be mindful of the mobile defence corps the Titan can toss onto the ice, including Olivier Galipeau, Summerside native Noah Dobson and Adam Holwell.
“If you’re not sharp on your forecheck, and your puck placement, you’re going to be chasing the game a lot of the night.”
