The Charlottetown Islanders scored six third period goals, including three from Oliver Cooper, as the Islanders skated to a 6-3 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Tuesday night for their fourth-straight win.
Cooper recorded his second career hat-trick and becomes the 32nd player in Islanders/Rocket history to record one.
“I don’t even know how to explain it,” said Cooper. “I guess it’s just one of those things that happen. They weren’t highlight reels by any means. They were my teammates helping me out and making the right plays and I was just fortunate to be at the right spot at the right time to be able to put the puck in.”
The Islanders have won back-to-back games since returning from the Christmas break and improve to 19-17-1-1 on the season. The Screaming Eagles fall to 12-19-2-3.
Mitchell Balmas scored the game’s winning goal at 13:39 against his hometown team.
“When I was growing up I was always hoping for the Eagles to win games but it feels even better to score one on them.”
Balmas said the Islanders are on a roll right now after winning four games in a row.
“We just got to keep going with it and keep rolling.”
Consistency has been key to the team’s recent success, said Cooper.
“We’ve been working hard on and off the ice and things are paying off for us.”
An uneventful and scoreless first period saw the Islanders with a 9-7 advantage in shots, despite killing off two penalties.
Cape Breton opened the scoring at the 7:45 mark of the second period with Evgeny Svechnikov scoring his 12th of the season with Loik Leveille drawing the lone assist. Shots were an even 12-12.
In the third period, Cooper tied the game with a power play goal at 2:14 for his first of the game and eighth of the campaign. Dexter Weber and Mason McDonald drew assists.
Moments later, the Screaming Eagles regained the lead when Maxim Lazarev one-timed a shot past McDonald on the power play at 5:56 for his 18th goal of the season. Svechnikov and Jason Bell drew assists.
It was nearly a 3-1 game if it wasn’t for McDonald making a huge blocker save on an Eagles’ two-on-one rush. The play went down the ice where Ryan MacKinnon would score his sixth of the season at 7:24 to tie the game. Ross Johnston and Filip Rydstrom drew assists.
Cooper gave the Islanders its first lead of the game at 10:38 with his second of the game and ninth of the season with Rydstrom drawing the lone assist.
Charlottetown extended its lead to two with Balmas’ fourth of the season off a nice feed from fellow rookie Samuel Guilbault at 13:39. Will Thompson drew the second assist on the goal.
The Screaming Eagles made it a one-goal game at 17:33 with Marcus Hinds’ sixth of the season. Bell and Svechnikov drew assists.
Kameron Kielly scored into an empty net at 18:46 with Spenser Cobbold and Quinn O’Brien drawing assists. O’Brien has two points in two games since joining the Islanders.
Cooper scored an empty-net goal of his own at 19:20 to wrap up the scoring and pick up the hat-trick. Rydstrom drew the lone assist.
McDonald made 27 saves in the win for Charlottetown. Miguel Sullivan suffered the loss for Cape Breton making 32 saves.
The Islanders will wrap up the year 2014 with a New Years Eve match-up in Halifax against the Mooseheads. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m. EST.
Islanders Insights:
-Islanders went 1-for-2 on the power play, while going 3-for-4 on the penalty kill.
-Islanders out-hit the Eagles 21-17. Quinn O’Brien, Ryan MacKinnon and Ross Johnston all had three registered hits.
-Filip Rydstrom went 14-for-20 in the face-off dot.
-Attendance: 2,336
Three Stars:
3 - Filip Rydstrom, Charlottetown
2 - Dexter Weber, Charlottetown
1 - Oliver Cooper, Charlottetown
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