SYDNEY, N.S. — The Cape Breton Eagles and Sherbrooke Phoneix went toe-to-toe throughout the game, but it was a late third period goal that proved to be the difference.
German Import Taro Jentzsch scored the game-winner at 18:50 of the final frame to lead the Phoenix to a 3-2 victory over the Eagles in a battle of the top two teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League at Centre 200 on Saturday.
Félix Robert and Bailey Peach added single markers for the Phoenix (13-1-2-0), who finish their three-game Maritime road trip earning five out of a possible six points.
Derek Gentile and Ryan Francis found the back of the net for the Eagles (11-4-0-0) in front of 2,925 fans in attendance for the club's pink in the rink game.
Samuel Hlavaj, the first import goaltender to play at Centre 200 since Marvin Cüpper in 2015, made 24 saves for Sherbrooke. Kevin Mandolese stopped 28 of 31 shots for Cape Breton.
The Phoenix opened the scoring early in the first period with Robert netting his team-leading 13th goal of the season, but Cape Breton answered minutes later with Sydney native Gentile sneaking one past Hlavaj.
Cape Breton, donning pink jerseys in support of breast cancer awareness, took a 2-1 lead at 2:13 of second period with Francis finishing off a beautiful passing play by Egor Sokolov and
Adam McCormick on the power play. Peach would tie the game for Sherbrooke before the period was over with his sixth of the season.
The teams traded scoring chances in the third period, but the only goal to find the back of the net came off the stick of Jentzsch.
Sherbrooke out shot Cape Breton 31-26, while going 0-for-2 on the power play. The Eagles were 1-for-4 with the man advantage.
Cape Breton will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to Halifax to play the Mooseheads. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Scotiabank Centre.
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