The Halifax Mooseheads badly needed a win on Saturday to snap out of their slump but the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles weren’t about to do them any favours.
The Screaming Eagles had their own three-game losing streak to worry about and did enough to earn a 2-0 win in front of 6,735 fans at the Metro Centre. The loss is Halifax’s seventh in a row.
"It was a pretty good game for both teams," said Mooseheads forward Charles Bety. "We knew that Cape Breton had a pretty good team after the trade period. They got (Jacob) Lagace and some other good guys so I think it’s good for us that we almost beat a really good team. We worked hard today and we lost but we played a good game."
Viktor Hertzberg provided the key piece of scoring for the Eagles at 13:42 of the first period when he crashed the net and the puck just squeezed over the line. He added some insurance on a breakaway with 2:33 remaining in the third period and Cape Breton goalie Olivier Roy did the rest, stopping 31 shots for the shutout.
"He’s probably one of most competitive goalies in the league, if not the most competitive," said Mooseheads defenceman Paul Dimitruk. "You’ve got to tip your hat to that. He battled the whole night back there. In terms of second efforts, he was there every time. And he’s got a good team in front of him so that helped as well."
But give the Mooseheads credit, they carried the play for long stretches and came within inches of tying it on several occasions. Bety, Tomas Knotek and Carl Gelinas all hit the post and there were a number of other quality scoring chances that nearly wound up as goals.
"We played three good periods so that was good for us, but we just didn’t get a few bounces and couldn’t finish on a couple open nets," Dimitruk said.
"But that’s part of the game. You’ve got to get some luck sometimes and that just didn’t happen tonight."
Peter Delmas made his first start for the Mooseheads since being acquired from the Quebec Remparts on Thursday. The Bedford native stopped 23 of 25 shots and was named the game’s third star, just one night after a relief appearance when he confessed he was "really nervous." He made a bunch of excellent stops and was a calming presence in the goal all night.
"That’s a great game for Peter to kind of get settled in here," Dimitruk said.
"He looked more comfortable tonight and he brought his game. He kept us in it pretty good and that’s all you can ask for. I mean, two goals is a pretty realistic number for us to be giving up. We’ve just got to capitalize when we can."
The Mooseheads wrap up their weekend with a road game against the Moncton Wildcats this afternoon.
"That’s probably the best team in the league and probably one of the best teams in the CHL," said Dimitruk, a former member of the Wildcats.
"The amount of talent they have up front and just all over the ice is (impressive). They have the MVP of the league in net and there’s no (doubt) about it, we’re got to bring the same intensity as we had tonight."
The loss drops the Mooseheads’ record to (8-31-1-2) and leaves them 14 points out of a playoff spot.
"We have 25 games left and it’s hard to lose points every night," said Bety. "And we see Baie-Comeau and Lewiston keep winning so we know have to keep working."
Wildcats 6, Titan 2: At Moncton, N.B., Nicolas Deschamps, Alex Saulnier and Randy Cameron all had a goal and an assist for the Wildcats.
Rocket 3, Cataractes 2 (OT): At Shawinigan, Que., Wendell Vye stopped 48 shots and Jarrad Struthers scored 25 seconds into overtime to give P.E.I. the win.
Sea Dogs 4, Juniors 2: At Saint John, N.B., Nicholas Petersen recorded a goal and two assists for the Sea Dogs.
Notes: Not dressed for the Mooseheads were Garrett Clarke (concussion), Sawyer Hannay (ankle laceration), Linden Bahm (broken wrist), Alex Lemieux (mononucleosis), Matt Stoddard (healthy scratch) and Matthew Boudreau (healthy scratch).
( wpalov@herald.ca)
