“I felt great,” said the 18-year-old goaltender McDonald. “I kind of felt I was putting too much pressure on myself the first few games. It’s hard to get adjusted to the slower shots and I think I’m finally getting back into a groove and I’m going to keep it rolling.”
Charlottetown improves to 5-2-1-1 on the season as the Foreurs lose their sixth-straight game and fall to 2-6-0-0.
The Islanders were coming off a 5-4 shootout loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs on Wednesday.
McDonald said he tried to forget about that loss.
“I was kind of pissed off after that one and it kind of motivated me for tonight to come out and have a good performance. I focused real well and got the job done.”
The Foreurs came into Friday’s game losing their last five games coming into Friday’s game. The Islanders didn’t want to take them lightly, said Islanders Captain Ryan MacKinnon who opened the scoring in the second period.
“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing. They’re the defending champs last year so they obviously do something right. You got to respect your opponent and that’s what we did and didn’t take them lightly and it showed today.”
McDonald admitted he didn’t know about the Foreurs streak prior to the game but went into the game with the same mindset he brings into every game.
“I think that’s what all the guys did tonight and that contributed to the win.”
It was a team effort from the start, said McDonald.
“We played really good out there and the boys played good in front of me and I’m excited to keep rolling tomorrow.”
MacKinnon said it was a team effort also.
“It’s one of the first times we showed a full 60. We showed that even when they got a goal late in the third to kind of put some pressure on us, we took a deep breathe and got right back it which is a great sign for a young team.”
After a scoreless first period, MacKinnon opened the scoring at the 13:58 mark of the second period with his second goal of the season with Samuel Guilbault drawing the lone assist. The goal was MacKinnon’s first goal at home.
“It felt pretty good,” said MacKinnon with a chuckle. “I was waiting for that one for a while. I literally had a smile on my face.”
Charlottetown had a 16-11 shot advantage in the first period, but were outshot 19-8 in the second period.
In the third period, Goulet gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead with his fifth goal of the season at 2:02. Kameron Kielly and Dexter Weber drew assists.
Just 1:43 later, the Foreurs got themselves on the board with Anthony Beauregard potting home his third goal of the season. Vincent Lanoue and Nicolas Aube-Kubel drew assists.
“It was just an unfortunate bounce,” said McDonald. “I wasn’t too pissed off after the goal. I knew that I was playing good and I just had to keep the pedal down and that’s what we did. We shut them down.”
Kielly added insurance for the Islanders scoring an empty-net goal at 19:41 for his team-leading sixth of the season. Spenser Cobbold and Dexter Weber drew assists.
Keven Bouchard made 32 saves in the loss for Val-d’Or.
The Islanders host the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies tomorrow night at 7 p.m. for the annual Pink the Rink game in support of the fight against Breast Cancer.
The team has to play their game and play a full 60 minutes to win, said MacKinnon.
“You realize that in this league…and again we’re not going to take them lightly.”
Islanders Insights
-Very unpenalized game. Only four penalties all game; three to the Islanders and one to Val-d’Or.
-Dexter Weber led all players in the plus-minus category with a plus-three rating.
-Islanders outhit the Foreurs 10-5; Weber had the most with three.
-Kameron Kielly was an excellent 10-for-16 on face-offs.
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