Mooseheads sweep Islanders with 11-3 win

CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - The Halifax Mooseheads skated to an 11-3 victory in Game 4 to sweep the first round series against the Charlottetown Islanders Thursday night at Eastlink Centre.

Jonathan Drouin led the way for Halifax with two goals and two assists. Islanders had goals from Daniel Sprong, Kameron Kielly and Troy Vance.

Things started out well for the Islanders as they killed off a four-minute double minor to Robert Pelletier for high sticking and didn’t give Halifax too many scoring chances. After the penalty kill, chances came at both ends but it wasn’t until the 14:28 mark of the first period on the power play when Nikolaj Ehlers opened the scoring for Halifax with his third of the playoffs. Jonathan Drouin and Mackenzie Weegar drew assists.

Moments later, Weegar found the back of the net with an unassisted marker at 15:45 for his first of the playoffs. Mooseheads took a 3-0 lead with Timo Meier scoring his first of the playoffs on a lucky bounce at 18:50 with Jesse Lussier and Luca Ciampini drawing assists.

In the second period, things didn’t get any easier for the Islanders. Drouin scored his fifth of the playoffs at 1:27 to give Mooseheads a 4-0 lead before Danny Moynihan made it 5-0 at 2:32 with his third of the playoffs.

The fifth Mooseheads goal would end the night for Mason McDonald after giving up five goals on 16 shots. Eric Brassard came into the game for Charlottetown.

Halifax took a 6-0 lead with Weegar scoring a power play goal for his second of the game at 10:17. Ehlers buried his second of the game and fourth of the playoffs at 12:07 to make it a 7-0 Mooseheads game. Drouin added his sixth of the playoffs just 27 second later for an 8-0 lead. Shots were 22-3 in favour of Halifax for a 34-16 advantage.

To start the third period, Mooseheads took out starter Zachary Fucale and replaced him with backup Kevin Darveau.

Luca Ciampini scored short-handed at 6:19 to put the Mooseheads up 9-0 before Connor Moynihan made it double digits at 8:46.

Islanders got on the board with Sprong’s fourth of the playoffs at 15:51. Pelletier drew the lone assist. Just 21 seconds later, Kielly scored his first of the playoffs to make it 10-2. Mike DiPaolo drew the lone assist.

The Mooseheads added one more goal as Samuel Leblanc scored his first of the playoffs at 18:20 to make it 11-2. The Islanders wouldn’t go away as Vance scored his first of the playoffs at 19:30 on the power play. Anthony Cortese and DiPaolo drew the assists.

Brassard made 23 saves in relief of McDonald in the Islanders net. Fucale stopped all 16 shots he faced through two periods and Darveau made five saves in the third period.

Islanders defenceman Troy Vance skated in his last major junior game of his career. Vance is property of the Dallas Stars and was acquired by the P.E.I. Rocket last year at the deadline from Victoriaville. Thanks to Vance for his time in Charlottetown and good luck to him in the future.

See you in the off season Islanders fans! It was a fun year.







Series recap:
Game 1: Friday March 21, 2014 - Charlottetown Islanders 3 @ Halifax Mooseheads 6
Game 2: Saturday March 22, 2014 - Charlottetown Islanders 1 @ Halifax Mooseheads 7
Game 3: Tuesday March 25, 2014 - Halifax Mooseheads 4 @ Charlottetown Islanders 1
Game 4: Thursday March 27, 2014 - Halifax Mooseheads 11 @ Charlottetown Islanders 3