2018-09-28

A two-goal performance from first star Raphael Lavoie, another strong outing between the pipes from Alex Gravel and a clutch moment from veteran Samuel Asselin helped the Halifax Mooseheads improve to 3-0 to start the season with a 4-2 comeback win in Cape Breton on Friday night.

“I thought we showed some fight tonight, a lot of character. Was it perfect? No, but we came through when it counted,” said Assistant Coach Sylvain Favreau.

One week after being traded to the Memorial Cup hosts, Asselin notched his second goal of the season with just over five minutes to play in regulation. His shot on the power play from the top of the circle may have hit a defender on the way through and it fooled Screaming Eagles goalie Kevin Mandolese to give the Mooseheads their first lead of the night 3-2. The 20-year-old was immediately swarmed by his teammates as the Herd had been playing catch-up all night until that moment. It proved to be the game-winner and Arnaud Durandeau added an insurance marker into an empty net in the final minute.

BOX SCORE

The Mooseheads weathered a storm in the first period that saw the team shorthanded on three occasions, handing all of the momentum to Cape Breton in the home opener at Centre 200 in Sydney. The Eagles were clearly pumped up to play in front of their home fans for the first time this season and it showed with the team firing 13 shots on goalie Alex Gravel. The Blackhawks draft pick made several excellent saves while only allowing one goal at the tail end of a Cape Breton man advantage when Mathias Laferriere scored with one second remaining in Justin Barron’s minor for hooking. Gravel finished the night with 28 saves for his third win of the season and was named the third star.

“Alex had a really solid game. He was calm, cool and collected gave us a chance to win again. He’s been great,” Favreau said.

The goalie earned his 40th career victory in the game and became just the ninth in franchise history to have 40-plus wins with the team. He gave most of the credit to the players in front of him.

“The boys blocked a lot of shots and made sure there weren’t many rebounds which really helped.”

The Mooseheads bounced back to even the score 1-1 midway through the second period when Raphael Lavoie knocked in a pass from Arnaud Durandeau. Cape Breton restored the lead about five minutes later when Adam McCormick ripped in a one-timer from the slot on the power play and the Eagles took a 2-1 lead into the third period.

The final 20 minutes belonged to Halifax as the Moose scored three straight goals, starting with Lavoie’s second of the night at the 4:33 mark on the power play. He took a pass from Jake Ryczek and skated into the circle before letting a high shot go, beating Mandolese far side high over the blocker. Defenceman Denis Toner picked up his first career point on the play.

“Obviously it’s a good feeling to help the team win,” he said.

“The two points at the end is what you want but it’s always fun to help the team.”

Toner felt the Mooseheads repsonded well after being challenged by Head Coach Eric Veilleux.

“He told us to wake up a bit and start moving our feet. We stuck to the system and played much harder in the second half of the game.”

Antoine Morand also picked up an assist, his first point as a Moosehead. Assists were credited to Morand, Justin Barron, Jake Ryczek, Denis Toner, Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Arnaud Durandeau.

Cape Breton’s Egor Sokolov was named the second star with a pair of assists. Final shots were 30-28 for the Screaming Eagles. Lavoie took eight of the Mooseheads shots. Halifax went 2-6 on the power play while Cape Breton was 2-7.

The victory helps the Mooseheads stay perfect through three games of the season opening 15-game road trip. Halifax has only had two longer road winning streaks to start a season in the previous 24 years with the 2012-13 team reeling off eight straight wins away from home and the 2007-08 squad winning four straight road games to begin the campaign. Of course those teams also had a handful of home games sprinkled into the schedule which is nothing compared to the task facing the players this year.

“When you look at the schedule and look at the uphill climb of 15 games it can be daunting. I think as a staff we’ve done a good job to tell the players its business as usual and to take it a game at a time. We’re all pretty happy with the results so far,” Favreau said.

Next up for the Herd is a visit to the brand new Avenir Centre in Moncton where they will battle the Wildcats on Sunday afternoon at 4pm. The Mooseheads will have plenty of fan support with two sold-out fan buses making the trek to New Brunswick.

The Mooseheads home opener is scheduled for Saturday, October 27th at 7pm versus the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Individual tickets will go on sale on October 3rd at 11am.

Mooseheads 2018-19 Season Ticket Memberships and 15-Game Packs are on sale now at TicketAtlantic.com, the Official Mooseheads Shop in Scotia Square or by calling 451-1221.