QUEBEC CITY, Que. – Charlottetown Islanders head coach Jim Hulton said the Quebec Remparts were just a little bit hungrier and sharper in Game 2.
Jesse Sutter, Olivier Garneau and Pascal Laberge scored the goals while Remparts goaltender Antoine Samuel stopped all 25 shots he saw as Quebec evened this Quebec Major Junior Hockey League best-of-seven series 1-1 with a 3-0 victory in front of 7,993 fans Sunday at Centre Videotron.
The Islanders drew first blood in the series with a 6-2 win on Saturday.
“Well, you know, we came up here with the goal to win at least one of the games and we did that,’’ said Islanders head coach and general manager Jim Hulton. “I thought, today, they were just a tad bit sharper and hungrier than we were. It was still a pretty even game tonight.’’
Former Islander Matthew Grouchy picked up an assist on Sutter’s game-winning goal at 8:16 of the first period. Quebec outshot the Islanders 30-25.
Islanders goaltender Matthew Welsh made 27 saves in a losing effort.
Momentum was the big difference between Games 1 and 2. On Saturday, the Islanders gave up the lead and got it back quickly.
“Today, we gave up two in the first (period) and had a couple of looks. If we score the next goal at 2-0 to put it 2-1 it’s a different ballgame. We couldn’t. Their goalie was better today than he was yesterday.’’
Hulton said his troops weren’t sharp with the puck in Game 2.
“I don’t think we managed the puck very good today. We turned it over a lot but it was more of our own doing.’’
The coach said there are no injury concerns coming home for Game 3 on Wednesday at Eastlink Centre at 7 p.m., just the normal bumps and bruises.
Hulton said the team is pumped to be coming home where it now has home ice advantage thanks to the Game 1 victory.
“We stole home ice back, really, with the win last night, tilted (the series) in our favour. We’ve got three games at home and we want to make hay at home and see if we can push them out at home.’’
SATURDAY
Keith Getson tied it and won it Saturday as the Islanders defeated the Remparts 6-2 to take Game 1.
"He was terrific,” Hulton said of Getson, who scored three times and all were key.
Sullivan Sparkes opened the scoring Saturday for the Islanders on the team’s first shot of the game 5:50 into the contest in front of 10,016 fans at the Videotron Centre.
Former Islanders forward Gregor MacLeod tied it with three minutes to play in the period and Sam Dunn gave them the lead midway through the second period with a power-play goal. It swung momentum in the home team's favour.
Getson, the longest serving member of the Isles, tied the game with six to play in the second with a goal on the man advantage. He then gave the visitors the lead 5:24 into the third.
"We did a great job tonight of recapturing (momentum) and he was the leader in that department with a big power-play goal on a much-maligned power play to get us back to 2-2 and then to score that one that really spring-boarded us into the win," Hulton said.
Former Remparts forward Derek Gentile provided an insurance goal three minutes after Getson's second. Sam King and Getson with his hat trick goal into the empty net rounded out the scoring.
Guardian sports editor Jason Malloy contributed to this report
