Former Charlottetown forward Mitchell Balmas scored the game-winning goal at 12:09 of the third period as the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles completed a weekend sweep of the Islanders Saturday at Eastlink Centre in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
The score was 4-3, identical to Friday’s result except this match didn’t go to a shootout.
To add insult to injury, Balmas’ goal, his second of the game, was a short-handed marker.
Kevin Gursoy had opened the scoring for the Islanders just three minutes into the game. Daniel Hardie and Xavier Fortin picked up the assists.
However, Cape Breton then reeled off three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead before the end of the opening period — Balmas, Egor Sokolob and Ryan Francis.
Hunter Drew got the Islanders back within a goal with his ninth of the season at 10:02 of the second period. William Sirman and Zachary Beauregard drew the assists.
Nikita Alexandrov then tied the game with his 21st of the campaign at 4:47 of the third period. Lukas Cormier and Brett Budgell picked up the assists.
Charlottetown outshot Cape Breton 31-24.
Matthew Walsh suffered the loss in goal for the Islanders while Kevin Mandolese registered his second straight goaltending win.
On Friday at Eastlink Centre, Mandolese stopped both shooters he faced while Derek Gentile and Sokolov squeaked their shots past Welsh as the Screaming Eagles defeated the Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.
The Islanders wore P.E.I. Senators jerseys to honour the former AHL team and alumni Norm Batherson and Darcy Simon took part in the ceremonial puck drop before the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game.
Former Islanders forward Shawn Boudrias, Shaun Miller and Brooklyn Kalmikov scored for Cape Breton in regulation. Felix Lafrance, Olivier Bourret, Mathias Laferriere and Gentile, the former Isles speedster, each had an assist.
Alexandrov had a goal and an assist for the Islanders while Sirman and Budgell also scored. Thomas Casey, Hardie, Cormier, Alexander Dersch and Jordan Maher all had a helper.
Mandolese made 30 stops for the victory while Welsh turned aside 27 shots in the loss.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and 2-2 heading to the third.
With the doubleheader results, Cape Breton improved to 30-15-1-2 and hold a four-point lead in the standings over Charlottetown (27-14-2-3). The Isles have two games in hand.
