McDonald named second star of the week

Photo credit: Darrell Theriault.

Charlottetown Islanders goaltender Mason McDonald was named the QMJHL's second star of the week yesterday.

The week is for Jan. 12-18.

The 18-year-old, Halifax, N.S., native won both games he started this weekend, including one shutout. He maintained a 1.00 goals against average and a 0.971 save percentage.

On Friday against the Sherbrooke Phoenix, McDonald was name the game's first star stopping all 31 shots for his first shutout as an Islander and of the season. On Sunday, McDonald made 36 saves in a 3-2 win over the Quebec Remparts.

McDonald currently sits sixth among goaltenders with a 2.99 goals against average. His save percentage has him third amongst goalies with a 0.904 save percentage.

This is the second time this season McDonald has been named a star of the week. The last time was the week of Nov. 10-16, 2014.

Anthony Beauvillier of the Shawinigan Cataractes was the first star of the week and Val-d'Or Foruers forward Nicolas Aube-Kubel was the third star of the week.

Islanders wrap up road trip with 3-2 win over Remparts

The Charlottetown Islanders did the unthinkable this weekend and won all three games during its three-in-three road trip thought the province of Quebec.

Filip Chlapik scored the winning goal Sunday evening as the Islanders picked up a 3-2 win over the Quebec Remparts.

With the successful road trip, the Islanders head back home with a 23-19-1-3 record with 50 points. The Memorial Cup host Remparts fall to 26-17-1-2 on the season.

The last time the Islanders franchise won all three games during a Quebec-based road trip was in the 2010-11 season as the P.E.I. Rocket. The Rocket won three games in four nights.

Islanders forward Alexandre Goulet continued his hot hand, picking up a goal and an assist in the victory. The 18-year-old scored four goals and seven points during the three-game road swing.

It didn’t take long for the Remparts to open the scoring as Nikolas Brouillard cashed in at 2:53 for his 10th of the season. Guillaume Gauthier and Dmytro Timashov drew assists.

Goulet, Islanders spank Tigres 8-4

VICTORIAVILLE, QUE. - Alexandre Goulet scored a pair of goals and assists to lead the visiting Charlottetown Islanders to an 8-4 win over the Victoriaville Tigres Saturday night.

Goulet was not the only Islanders player to have a multi-point night as Ross Johnston (2-1), Filip Chlapik (2-1), Ryan MacKinnon (1-2) and Daniel Sprong (0-3) picked up three points to lead Charlottetown to its second-straight won if its three-game road trip.

The Islanders are now 22-19-1-3 on the season. The Tigres fall to 21-20-1-4.

Goulet opened the scoring at the 7:21 mark of the first period with an unassisted goal for his 26th of the season.

Charlottetown took a 2-0 lead with a power play goal from MacKinnon at 16:22. The goal was the Islanders captain’s seventh of the season. Sprong and Goulet drew helpers.

Shots were 14-7 in favour of Charlottetown.

In the second period, the Islanders made it a 3-0 game at 2:15 with Chlapik’s 20th goal of the season. MacKinnon and Guillaume Rioux-Legault drew assists.

Spenser Cobbold made it 4-0 Islanders at 4:19 with his sixth of the season with Johnston picking up the lone assist.

McDonald, Islanders shutout Phoenix

SHERBROOKE, QUE. - Mason McDonald picked up his first shutout in a Charlottetown Islanders uniform Friday night, making 31 saves to backstop the Islanders to a 2-0 win over the Sherbrooke Phoenix.

The shutout is McDonald’s second of his career which helps the Islanders improve to 21-19-1-3 on the season. Sherbrooke falls to 23-16-1-3.

McDonald last recorded a shutout with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Jan. 27, 2013. Since being acquired by the Islanders, it took the 18-year-old, Halifax, N.S., native 54 games and 3,093:26 of playing time to get the achievement with Charlottetown.

Game day: Islanders @ Phoenix

Date: Friday Jan. 16, 2015

Match: Charlottetown Islanders @ Sherbrooke Phoenix

Where: Palais des Sports Leopold-Drolet, Sherbrooke, Que.

Time: 8 p.m. AST

TV: Webcast

Live Tweets: IslesLive

Pre-game stats:

Last meeting this season:	Nov. 28, SHE 3 @ CHA 2
Next game between two teams:	No more meetings
Head-to-head record this season:	Sherbrooke 1-0-0-0, Charlottetown 0-1-0-0
Head-to-head record for 2013-14:	Sherbrooke 2-0-0-0, Charlottetown 0-1-0-1
Last 5 years between teams:	Sherbrooke 3-1-0-1, Charlottetown 2-2-0-1
Last 5 years at Sherbrooke:	Charlottetown 1-1-0-0, Sherbrooke 1-0-0-1

Charlottetown Islanders December Analysis Part 2

By: Nathan A'Hearn
Follow him @TheTermiNathan

Photo credit: Darrell Theriault.

Were the Islanders' wins this month a factor of luck in percentages or driven by an improvement in play with stronger possession?  I'm thinking it's the latter.  Below we are going to take a look at Shot Differential, Estimated Fenwick (Courtesy of CHLStats.com and myself) and PDO (Calculated by CHLStats.com)

Shot Differential:

In Wins: 67.2 per cent

In Losses: 38.25 per cent

Overall Charlottetown dictated the play in the first period in December.  This really shows itself in wins where the Islanders had more than two thirds of all shots in the first period.  If you are getting most of the shots you are controlling the puck most of the time and this results in goals.

Islanders fall short in 4-3 shootout loss to Olympiques

The Gatineau Olympiques erased a 2-0 deficit en route to a 4-3 shootout win over the Charlottetown Islanders Saturday night at Eastlink Centre.

Joey Richard scored the winning shootout goal as the Olympiques’ snap an eight-game losing streak and improve to 16-24-0-4 on the season. The Islanders drop its second straight game in the shootout and are now 20-19-1-3.

“It’s a tough loss obviously,” said Islanders assistant Kameron Kielly. “Bounces happen like that but overall we’re happy with the way we played.”

The team played a great 60 minutes, said Kielly.

“Good weekend in general but it sucks. Hockey is a game of bounces and they just weren’t coming our way.”

Two back-to-back shootout losses hurt, said Kielly.

“It’s just the matter of the game. It sucks it comes down to a shootout sometimes but that’s the way it is.”

For the 18-year-old Charlottetown native, it was his fourth time playing the Olympiques since being traded from Gatineau to Charlottetown in August of 2013.

It was a high-emotion game, said Kielly.

“It’s fun playing them. I wasn’t as nervous as my first time but to score against them felt pretty good actually.”