Eagles outlast Mooseheads 2-1
2023-03-24
The Cape Breton Eagles took the wind out of the sails of the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday night with a surprise 2-1 victory over the Herd at Scotiabank Centre.
Angelo Fullerton came out from behind the net and tossed the puck through some bodies before Olivier Houde swatted it out of the air for the game-winner midway through the third period. It was a game that didn’t see many bounces go in the Mooseheads favour, while Cape Breton played their strategy to perfection by blocking shooting lanes, breaking up passes and playing the body to slow down Halifax’s top line.
The frustration of the Mooseheads was evident and they couldn’t seem to get on the same page while firing 31 shots at first star Nicolas Ruccia. The netminders were the best players on the ice as Ruccia earned the first star and Mathis Rousseau was strong at the other end with 22 saves.
The Mooseheads opened the scoring in the game in the second period when Jake Furlong dished to Markus Vidicek who buried his 31st of the season from between the circles. It was a special night for Furlong who took the ceremonial face off as his sister Kate Furlong dropped the puck along with her silver medal winning Canada Games teammates with Team Nova Scotia. The crowd of 8,674 gave the women’s hockey team a thunderous ovation in recognition of their historic performance in Prince Edward Island in February.
We were fortunate to share a special moment with the Silver Medal winning NS Women’s Canada Games hockey team tonight.
Brother & Sister Jake & Kate Furlong took part in the ceremonial face off. @HockeyNS #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/W6t7WXb8Ji
— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) March 24, 2023
With the Herd leading 1-0, Eagles Captain Ivan Ivan tied the game at 10:54 of the middle stanza on a great rush and finish for his 33rd tally of the season. It was a tight checking, defensive battle most of the way through the game with Cape Breton having just a little more jump in what could be a first round playoff preview. With a Quebec Remparts win tonight, Halifax will finish as the second seed in the Eastern Conference and face the number seven seed which will either be Cape Breton or the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. There will be plenty of scoreboard watching on Saturday afternoon on the final day of the regular season.
Halifax will play game number 68 Saturday at 4pm on Scotiabank Centre ice against the Charlottetown Islanders. Tickets are on sale now at TicketAtlantic.com.
