CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Charlottetown Islanders can put a little space between themselves and a team chasing them in the standings tonight.
The Islanders (28-14-2-3) head to Moncton to play the Wildcats (26-17-3-3) at 7 p.m. The Islanders hold a three-point lead in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League standings with two games in hand.
“I’m not a big believer in over emphasizing any one game,” Isles head coach Jim Hulton said Thursday. “It’s about playing good hockey.”
And there were positive taken out of Wednesday’s 4-2 victory over the Victoriaville Tigres at the Eastlink Centre.
“There was no panic when we got down 2-0,” Hulton said.
The team spent more time in the offensive zone and played more to its identity. That will need to continue tonight in order to be successful.
This will be the Islanders first meeting with the Wildcats since they hired John Torchetti to replace Darren Rumble as head coach.
Hulton said teams have certain tendencies under specific coaches and the Islanders staff has, and will continue to, review film to put its game plan together for tonight.
Regardless who is coaching the teams, Hulton said, the games between the rivals are always competitive.
The Islanders have used defenceman Colin Van Den Hurk up front recently with Alexander Dersch on the back end. It appears that will stick for the upcoming games.
Goalie Matthew Welsh is expected to start tonight’s game and Saturday’s home contest with the Sherbrooke Phoenix, which will see the return of Dakota Lund-Cornish back to the Eastlink Centre. Charlottetown traded the Upper Tantallon, N.S., native to the Phoenix on Jan. 2 for a ninth-round pick this year and a fourth in 2020 to give the 18-year-old an opportunity for more ice time. He is 5-4 with a 3.33 goals-against average and a .882 save percentage with his new club.
Nikita Alexandrov scored the winner, his second goal of the game, midway through the third period Wednesday as the Islanders scored four unanswered goals.
Kevin Gursoy and Daniel Hardie each had a goal and an assist while Brendon Clavelle had a pair of helpers in the victory. Jordan Maher and Xavier Bernard each had an assist.
Olivier Mathieu and Isaiah Gallo-Demetris gave the visitors a 2-0 lead midway through the first, but Alexandrov cut the deficit in half with 4:34 left in the first and Hardie tied it five minutes into the second.
Isaak Pelletier made 18 saves for the win in his first start on home ice while Tristan Cote-Cazenave stopped 30 shots in the loss.
Charlottetown was 0-for-1 on the power play while Victoriaville was 0-for-2.
