The Acadie-Bathurst Titan used a shootout to get by the P.E.I. Rocket, 4-3, Sunday afternoon at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
The loss for the Rocket keeps them in the league's basement with a 17-40-2-3 record for 39 points. It was also the ninth straight loss for the Rocket, but collected their first point in nine games.
Alex Noel, who scored a goal for the Rocket, said the team battled hard for two periods, but could have played better in the third period.
"We could have came out with two points there, got one, it's better than nothing but we should have performed better in the third period."
Noel's goal gave the Rocket a 3-2 lead with less than a minute to go in the second period but it wouldn't be enough as Bathurst's Mirko Hoefflin tied the game with 2:54 left in the third period. Bathurst then scored twice in the shootout and the Rocket were shutout.
It's never fun to lose like that, said Noel.
"We were playing pretty good all game, pops our bubble a little bit. We just got to forget about it and focus on the Moncton game on Tuesday."
The Titan opened the scoring with Zach O'Brien's league-leading 50th goal of the season just 2:19 into the first period.
Josh Currie tied the game at one with this 23rd goal of the season at 11:02. Jimmy Oligny and Victor Provencher drew the assists.
In the second period, Olivier Croteau's 13th goal of the season put the Rocket up by a score of 2-1 on the powerplay at 6:22.
Hoefflin scored his first of the game to tie the game at two for the Titan at 9:59.
Noel's ninth of the season gave the Rocket a 3-2 lead at 19:06.
In the third period, Hoefflin tied the game for Bathurst to send the game to overtime and eventually to the shootout.
O'Brien and Sebastien Trudeau scored for Bathurst in the shootout, as Jessyko Bernard and Louick Marcotte were held scoreless.
Maxime Lagace made 27 saves in net for the Rocket.
Jacob Brennan made 28 saves to pick up the win for Bathurst.
The Rocket host the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. It is also the last ticket redemption night for the season.
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nolan@theqspot.ca
