SYDNEY, N.S. — It wasn’t the way the Cape Breton Eagles wanted to finish the month of October.
Seven different goal scorers found the back of the net for Moncton in the first period, an obstacle Cape Breton couldn't overcome, as the Wildcats downed the Eagles 10-4 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at Centre 200 on Thursday.
It’s the second time in less than a year the Eagles allowed 10 goals on home ice to Moncton. The Wildcats defeated Cape Breton 10-3 at Centre 200 on March 3.
NHL draft picks Jakob Pelletier (Calgary) and Alexander Khovanov (Minnesota) scored twice, while Jeremy McKenna, Christian Huntley, Tristan DeJong, Mark Rumsey, Mika Cyr and Kyle Foreman chipped in with single markers for Moncton (13-3-0-0).
Ryan Francis, Félix Lafrance, Shawn Boudrias and Egor Sokolov replied with goals for Cape Breton (12-5-0-0).
Olivier Rodrigue made 30 saves for the Wildcats, while picking up an assist.
William Grimard allowed five goals on nine shots, before being replaced by Kevin Mandolese. Mandolese stopped 16 of 20 shots in his 26:24 of relief. He was replaced by Grimard to start the third, who finished the night stopping 13 of 19 shots and was tagged with the loss.
Moncton, who with the victory extends their win streak to seven games, opened the scoring early in the first period with McKenna netting his seventh goal of the season, but Cape Breton responded 31 seconds later with Francs’ 11th of the year at 3:42.
The game remained tied until 9:18 of the period when Huntley’s slapshot found the back of the net, before Pelletier extended the lead 13 seconds later with his 10th of the year.
The visitors would round out the period with goals by Khovanov, DeJong, Rumsey and Cry to take a 7-1 lead into the first intermission.
Moncton continued to flex its offensive muscle in the second period with Foreman scoring his third of the season, but Cape Breton responded with a pair of goals from Lafrance and Boudrias at 16:25 and 17:51 respectively. Khovanov added a late goal in the period to make the score 9-3.
Mandolese, who replaced Grimard following Moncton’s fifth goal in the first period, seemed to favour his leg leaving the ice for the second intermission. As the third period began, Grimard return to the net and Mandolese was not on the bench and never did come back.
In the third period, the Wildcats would add another goal from Pelletier, on the power play, for his second of the game. Sokolov would fire home Cape Breton’s fourth goal at 12:15.
Moncton outshot Cape Breton 39-34, while going 2-for-4 on the power play. The Eagles went 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Following the game, Eagles head coach Jake Grimes told the Cape Breton Post Mandolese has a lower-body injury. The Ottawa Senators prospect will be re-evaluated Friday morning.
The seven-goal first period marked the second-most goals allowed by the Eagles organization in a single period.
Cape Breton allowed eight goals in the first period against the Rimouski Oceanic at Centre 200 on Feb. 12, 2012. The Eagles went on to lose that game 10-3.
Meanwhile, Oct. 31 hasn’t been be a friendly day for the Eagles. Cape Breton has played only three games on Halloween, all of which have been losses, including a 4-0 loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes at Centre 200 in 1997.
Cape Breton and Moncton will meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Avenir Centre in Moncton.
HIGHLIGHT REEL:
SCORE: Moncton 10, Cape Breton 4
WHERE: Centre 200, Sydney
ATTENDANCE: 1,974
SHOTS ON GOAL: 39-34 in favour of Moncton
SCORERS: Moncton: Jakob Pelletier (2), Alexander Khovanov (2), Jeremy McKenna, Tristan DeJong, Mark Rumsey, Kyle Foreman, Mika Cyr and Christian Huntley; Cape Breton: Ryan Francis, Félix Lafrance, Shawn Boudrias and Egor Sokolov
SAVES: Moncton: Olivier Rodrigue (30); Cape Breton: William Grimard (13), Kevin Mandolese (16)
AT A GLANCE: A seven-goal first period by Moncton put the Eagles behind in the first period, in which the team couldn’t overcome in the loss.
WHAT IT MEANS: Cape Breton’s record falls to 12-5-0-0, while Moncton extends its win streak to seven games.
NEXT GAME: Saturday, 7 p.m., Avenir Centre, Moncton, vs. Moncton Wildcats
Lines:
Cape Breton:
Egor Sokolov - Ryan Francis - Shawn Boudrias
Brooklyn Kalmikov – Ivan Ivan – Felix Lafrance
Liam Kidney – Derek Gentile – Shaun Miller
Connor Trenholm – David Doucet – Matthew Lint
Defence:
Adam McCormick – Jarrett Baker
Kyle Havlena – Nathan Larose
Logan Kelly-Murphy – Alex Falardeau
Goaltenders:
William Grimard (Start)
Kevin Mandolese
Scratches: Cole Fraser, Mathias Laferriere and Jeremy Langlois
Moncton:
Mark Rumsey – Alexander Khovanov – Jakob Pelletier
Elliot Desnoyers – Mika Cyr – Jeremy McKenna
Kyle Foreman – Jacob Hudson – Ozzie King
Jacob Stewart – Philippe Daoust – Alexandre Parent
Defence:
Christian Huntley – Jordan Spence
Sean Stewart – Axel Anderson
Sam Dow – Tristan DeJong
Goaltenders:
Olivier Rodrigue (Start)
Charles-Antoine Lavallee
Scratches: Francis Langlois and Zachary L’Heureux.
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Twitter: @CBPost_Sports
