CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — The Charlottetown Islanders got goals from five different players in a 5-1 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs during Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Thursday at the Eastlink Centre.
“It was indicative of what we have to do to have success. I think it was a depth win,” head coach Jim Hulton said. “We had contributions from top to bottom tonight.”
Cole Edwards scored his third of the season with two minutes to play in the first period and Noah Laaouan doubled the score 1:23 later to give the home side a 2-0 lead after the first period.
The 18-year-old defenceman from Halifax made a smart read in the neutral zone, jumped in, stole the puck, looked for a lane to pass to a teammate before wiring a shot past Zachary Bouthillier for his first of the season.
“For him to get a little bit of candy there on the scoreboard is pretty nice,” Hulton said of one of his trusted shutdown blue-liners.
Nicholas Deakin-Poot cut the deficit in half midway through the second period with a second left in a Saint John power play. Days Corner defenceman Charlie DesRoches earned the lone assist.
Former Sea Dogs forward Kevin Gursoy restored the two-goal cushion two minutes later as the Islanders dominated the second period, holding a 21-7 shot advantage, but leading only 3-1 heading to the third.
“You start to worry a little bit when you dominate the second period in terms of territorial edge and shots edge, but you don't necessarily get too comfortable of a lead,” Hulton said.
Brett Budgell scored the back-breaking goal two minutes into the third. It came four seconds after a Saint John power play ended.
“It was a huge goal,” said Islanders veteran defenceman Xavier Bernard. “After a big kill (where) we made big block shots. When the game is tied (and close), we need some guys to step up and show character and he did it tonight.”
Nikita Alexandrov put the exclamation mark on it with his third of the season a minute after Budgell’s goal.
The improved the Islanders to 4-0-1-0 while the Sea Dogs are 2-3-0-0.
“Nine points out of 10 in five games is pretty good in this league,” Bernard said, but noting the team isn’t resting on its laurels with the Quebec Remparts coming to town Friday for a 7:30 p.m. contest. “We want to go and play tomorrow and have another (good) game and show we’re one of the best teams in the league.”
Despite the victory, Hulton said he didn't feel they played particularly well.
“That’s our challenge now, can we accept coaching when we’re on a roll,” he said. “We’re on a nice roll right now. You want to get greedy but we’re going to have to play better tomorrow night. This s a good Quebec team coming in.”
Rookie Jacob Goobie will get his first home start in the Islanders crease.
Highlight reel
A look at some of the statistics from Thursday’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game between the host Charlottetown Islanders and visiting Saint John Sea Dogs.
Outcome
Saint John – 1.
Charlottetown – 5.
Goals
Saint John – Nicholas Deakin-Poot.
Charlottetown – Cole Edwards, Noah Laaouan, Kevin Gursoy, Brett Budgell and Nikita Alexandrov.
Assists
Saint John – Charlie DesRoches.
Charlottetown – Xavier Bernard 2, Thomas Casey, Patrick LeBlanc and Gursoy.
Goalies
Saint John – Zachary Bouthillier, 36 saves on 41 shots.
Charlottetown – Matthew Welsh 23 saves on 24 shots.
Power plays
Saint John – 1-for-5.
Charlottetown – 1-for-3.
Attendance – 2,267.
Missing in action – Saint John played without Slovakian forward Maxim Cajkaovic, a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick.
