With the loss, the Islanders fall two points and a spot back of the Mooseheads in the Maritimes Division with a 28-25-1-3 record. The Mooseheads improve to 28-23-4-2 on the season and are now third in the Maritimes Division.
“You can’t really bank on games that don’t go your way with the ref,” said Islanders captain Ryan MacKinnon. “That’s something you can never control.”
It is tough and frustrating, said the 20-year-old, Summerside, P.E.I., native.
“That stuff gets you away from your game and that’s what killed us tonight. Once we focused on our game I felt we executed well. A lot of negatives but we can take a lot of positives out of the game too. We have to be optimistic about it.”
It was a tough loss, said Daniel Sprong who scored the Islanders’ lone goal.
“That means Wednesday when we play Moncton we just got to win and get those points back. We just have to keep playing Islanders hockey and we should be fine.”
MacKinnon said it was unfortunate to not get the two points.
“We have to take a lot of positives out of it. I thought we played really well…it just didn’t go our way tonight.”
The Mooseheads pick up its sixth win in eight contests this season against the Islanders.
The reason behind the Islanders’ recent struggle against Halifax was a question that Islanders forward Sprong couldn’t give an answer to but said every game and shift is different.
“I thought we played well as a team but if we give (Nikolaj) Ehlers and (Timo) Meier a power play every period they are going to capitalize at one point. We got to stay out of the box.”
All the scoring happened in the second period. Halifax drew first blood with Danny Moynihan scoring a power play goal at 6:51 for his 23rd goal of the season. Cavan Fitzgerald and Nikolaj Ehlers drew assists.
Ehlers has now recorded a point in 32 consecutive games for the Mooseheads.
The Islanders tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal of their own from Sprong at 15:46 for his 29th goal of the season. MacKinnon and Dexter Weber drew assists.
On another power play, the Mooseheads took a 2-1 lead at 19:29 with Timo Meier scoring his 37th of the season from Ehlers and Fitzgerald.
Kevin Resop made 31 saves in the win for Halifax. Mason McDonald took the loss making 28 saves.
The Islanders host the Moncton Wildcats Wednesday Feb. 25 at 7 p.m.
The key to success is to stay out of the box, said Sprong.
“They have Barbashev and Garland on their power play and (have) one of the best power plays in the league. If we stay out of the box and play our system, I think we have a very good chance at winning.”
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