Hockey P.E.I. gets out to a 5-1 lead and then withstands furious Moncton comeback attempt

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Sean Hatchard
Canadaest News Service

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RON WARD/canadeast news service

Simon Olsson of the Prince Edward Rocket controls the puck against Zach Sill of the Moncton Wildcats during second-period action at the Moncton Coliseum Tuesday night. The Rocket, currently fifth in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Atlantic Division, stunned the first-place Wildcats 5-4.

On a night when they were missing their leading scorer and one of their top rookies, thePrince Edward Island Rocket came up with one of their best games of the season.

P.E.I. scored three second-period goals and then hung on for a 5-4 win over Moncton Wildcats in a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game in front of a crowd of 3,602 at the Moncton Coliseum Thursday night.

The loss snapped Moncton's six-game winning streak. The Rocket had lost all six of their previous meetings against the Wildcats this season.

Maxime Levesque, with a pair, Benjamin Casavant, Jean-Christophe Lirette and Brandon Street scored for the Rocket while Christopher Guay had two assists. P.E.I. played without injured leading scorer Chris Doyle and rookie forward Ben Duffy, who the league announced as one of the18 winners of the RDS mid-season rookie excellence awards Tuesday.

Stephen MacAulay, of the Saint John Sea Dogs, Jonathan Lessard, Acadie-Bathurst Titan, and Brandon Gormley, Moncton Wildcats and Jessyco Bernard of the Halifax Mooseheads are the other Atlantic Division winners.

Daniel Pettersson replied with two goals and Simon Jodoin and Matt Eagles also tallied for the Wildcats.

Ted Stephens chipped in with three assists and David Savard had two in the loss.

Bobby Nadeau stopped 27 shots for P.E.I. Nicola Riopel allowed five goals on 29 shots before he was replaced midway through the third period by Wendell Vye, who didn't give up a goal on three shots.

The teams were tied 0-0 after the first period and the Rocket led 3-1 after the second.

Prince Edward Island went ahead 5-1 in the third period before Moncton staged a late comeback with three straight goals, including Eagles' 20th of the season to cut the lead to 5-4 with 52 seconds remaining, but that's as close as the home team came.

The Wildcats saw their Atlantic Division-leading record fall to 31-4-3-2. P.E.I. improved to 16-21-3-5 and moved into a tie with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for fourth place in the division Moncton hosts the Gatineau Olympiques Friday at the Coliseum.