Josh Currie's two third period goals throttled the P.E.I. Rocket to a 6-3 win over the Chicoutimi Sagueneens Saturday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
Currie's goals broke a 3-3 tie after two periods en-route to P.E.I.'s 13th win of the season for a record of 13-27-2-2.
It was a great game, said Currie who was named team captain during a brief team meeting after the game.
"We came to play. Yesterday was a terrible game…so tonight we re-grouped, we put that game in the past and it showed. We played a really good game."
After Friday night's 8-2 thumping by Shawinigan, Currie said this win was huge.
"They're a really good team over there and for us to come out like that after a hard fought game last night, it shows a lot of character by our guys and very proud of our team tonight."
The Rocket held a 2-1 lead after the first period with goals from Olivier Croteau and Ben Duffy after Chicoutimi's Jean-Gabriel Pageau opened the scoring 36 seconds in on a powerplay goal.
Chicoutimi took a 3-2 lead in the second period with goals from Yoan Pinette and Lukas Sedlak before Matej Beran's 19th of the season tied the game at three.
Currie scored back-to-back goals in the third period for his 17th and 18th goals of the season before Marc-Andre Levesque capped off the scoring with a powerplay goal.
"We came into the room, you know 'we got 20 miles boys to re-group, go back at them and keep pushing' and we did we were lucky to end up with three goals that period," said Currie on the third period.
Chicoutimi's 11th day away from home benefitted the Rocket, said Currie.
"We knew they were tired and we only played one game so we just had to keep going and keep putting pressure and we did."
Antoine Bibeau made 25 saves in goal for the Rocket to pick up the win.
Christopher Gibson, who represent Team Finland at the recent World Junior Championships, made 22 saves in the loss for Chicouitmi.
In eight games since the Christmas break, the Rocket have posted five wins and three losses. Everybody came back focused, said Currie.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy, it was only going to get harder. We came with the right mind set…and it's really shown out there on the ice."
The Rocket head out on the road on Friday Jan. 20 against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. On Saturday Jan. 21, they travel to Chicoutimi to battle the Saugeneens again and wrap up Sunday Jan. 22 against the Victoriaville Tigres.
The Rocket return home Friday Jan. 27 against the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.
nolan@theqspot.ca
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