A six goal effort by the P.E.I. Rocket in the third period propelled them to a 9-6 win over the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Thursday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
It is the second win in a row for the the Rocket and they up their season record to 16-31-2-2.
Jessyko Bernard (1-2) and Matej Beran (0-3) led they way for the Rocket with three points each. Ben Duffy had two goals while Matt Bursey had the Gordie Howe hat-trick with a goal, assist and a fight.
Jonathan Brunelle (2-1) led the way for the Screaming Eagles with three points.
Bursey, who just turned 18 on Wednesday, said it was a good game but too many goals were given up by the Rocket.
"Obviously we scored a lot of goals, but if we capitalized on all our chances it could have been a different outcome."
For the second straight game the Rocket used the third period to their advantage. The team isn't quitting, said Bursey.
"We know that it's a 60 minute game…and if a team doesn't battle for 60 minutes then their chances aren't that good."
The Rocket opened the scoring 1:53 into the first period with Yan Pavel Laplante's sixth goal of the season.
Cape Breton responded with a powerplay goal at the 10:00 mark with a goal from Alexandre Lavoie. Kyle Farrell scored 14 seconds later with another powerplay goal to give the Screaming Eagles a 2-1 lead.
Brunelle gave the Screaming Eagles a 3-1 lead at 16:28.
Jimmy Oligny scored his fourth of the season to put the Rocket within one on the powerplay at 19:02 before Josh Currie's 19th of the season tied the game with two seconds to play in the first period.
Being down by two, the team knew they could come back, said Bursey.
"It wasn't anything big. We knew we could beat this team and it end up happening."
There were no goals in the second period but it opened up for a wild third period, where the two teams combined for nine goals.
Cape Breton took a 4-3 lead with a shorthanded goal from Brunelle 36 seconds into the frame, but Ben Duffy responded with a powerplay goal just 24 seconds later to tie the game at 4-4. Bursey gave the Rocket a 5-4 lead just 15 seconds later with his seventh of the season.
Olivier Croteau put the Rocket up 6-4 with his 11th of the season at 10:24 before Bernard's 14th of the season made it 7-4 Rocket at 11:47.
Former Eagle Olivier Jodoin put the Rocket up by four with his fifth of the season at 14:31.
Blake Millman scored at 14:31 to make it an 8-5 game before Raphael Corriveau made it 8-6 only 27 seconds later.
Duffy capped off the scoring with an empty net powerplay goal at 18:49 for his 30th goal of the season.
Nobody in the stands could have predicted that third period, Bursey joked.
"We played to get pucks on net…fortunately a lot of them went in."
Rocket goaltender Maxime Lagace made 13 saves to pick up the in but was pulled after the sixth goal. Antoine Bibeau was 1-for-1.
Philippe Trudeau stopped 25 pucks before being replaced by William Racicot who made six saves on seven shots.
The Rocket play the Screaming Eagles again Friday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre. Gametime 7 p.m.
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nolan@theqspot.ca
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