Red lights were going off a plenty at Centre 200 as a four goal night from Egor Sokolov led the Eagles to a 7-5 victory over the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada Thursday night in Sydney. With the win, the Eagles moved into a tie for third place in the East with Rimouski and have won 10 of their last 11 games.

Most of the scoring came in the middle period, but both teams would score twice in the opening period after a tentative first five minutes. Zachary Roy opened the scoring for the visitors on the power play after he found himself alone in front of the goal, beating a returning William Grimard to make it 1-0.

Egor Sokolov evened the scoring with a blast from the left face-off circle, and after Nathan Lavoie put the visitors ahead, Sokolov scored from a similar location to tie the game at 2. That was the score at the first buzzer, and then the fun began early in the second period.

The Eagles came out flying- adding three goals to the lead by just after the five minute mark. Liam Kidney gave Cape Breton its first lead, cashing in on a rebound from a Tyler Hinam shot. After Sokolov completed his hat trick, Mathias Laferrière ventured deep into the Armada zone on the power play and dropped the puck to Hinam who capitalized with plenty of net to shoot on. That spelled the end of the night for Blainville-Boisbriand goaltender Emile Samson.

22 seconds after the goaltending change, Armada forward Yaroslav Likhachev scored on a breakaway to get the road team back within two goals. It was countered by Sokolov’s fourth of the night which welcomed Armada netminder Olivier Adam into the game.

Blainville-Boisbriand would push back more though, as Maxim Bykov’s power play goal made it 6-4. Then in the final minute of the middle stanza, Benjamin Corbeil scored on an odd man rush and it was a one goal game going into the third frame.

After a free flowing second period, both Adam and Grimard would make things difficult on shooters as there were still chances but no goals to be found. Late in the period, there was a long stretch without a whistle and Blainville-Boisbriand coach Bruce Richardson wasn’t allowed the opportunity to call a timeout and pull his goaltender as play continued.

It was only in the final 50 seconds that Adam made his way to the bench, and not long after the Eagles regained possession and Shawn Element sealed the game with an empty netter.

It was the first appearance for Eagles goaltender William Grimard since December 6th, and he picked up the win by stopping five of 33 shots. Adam took the loss despite stopping 21 of 22 shots. (Samson allowed five goals on 25 shots before being pulled).

During the game the Armada lost forwards Luke Henman and Nicholas Blagden, as neither player played in the final half of the game due to injury.

The Eagles are next in action on Saturday afternoon against the Gatineau Olympiques. It’s the only visit to Centre 200 Gatineau will make this season. Puck drop is at a special start time of 4 PM, and tickets can be purchased at the Centre 200 box office, by phone at 902-564-2200 or online at https://tickets.capebreton.ca/Online/default.asp

THREE STARS OF THE GAME

1. Egor Sokolov (Cape Breton) 4 goals, 8 shots

2. Mathias Laferrière (Cape Breton) 1 goal, 1 assist

3. Tyler Hinam (Cape Breton) 3 assists

Scratches For Cape Breton: Matthew Gordon (illness), Logan Camp, Logan Kelly-Murphy

Scratches For Blainville-Boisbriand: Tommy Bouchard (upper body injury), Justin Gosselin, Maximilien Ledoux

Final Shots On Goal: 48-33 in favour of Cape Breton

Cape Breton Power Play: 0/3

Blainville-Boisbriand Power Play: 1/4

Attendance: 2569