Playoff Hopes Still Alive

With two games to go in the regular season, your Halifax Mooseheads still have hope of making the playoffs after picking up a huge overtime victory tonight versus the second place Charlottetown Islanders. Veteran Jake Coughler helped his Mooseheads get the win against his former team. The 20 year old scored a hat trick on Wednesday evening including the overtime winner 54 seconds into the extra frame to clinch the two points. It really shouldn't have gone to OT considering the first two periods Halifax played like they wanted to win. This determination led to some early cheers from the crowd at Scotiabank Centre with Max Fortier scoring practically an empty net goal 1:56 into the game. Just over 3 minutes later captain Keigan Goetz crashed the net and put the puck past Mark Grametbauer to give the home team a 2-0 lead. Halifax would go into the first intermission with a 3-0 lead while only allowing 4 shots on rookie Alexis Gravel who started his 14th game in a row. After 40 minutes the Islanders were down 5-2 but they wouldn't go away. A strong third period by the visiting team with goals by some of Charlottetown top guys tied the game in the third period, including one goal that was controversial on the powerplay. The Moose had a few good chances at the end of the game to win it in regulation but couldn't find the back of the net again. The win was big for a team that found themselves one point above 17th place Sherbrooke Phoenix and tied with the Rimouski Oceanic going into the Wednesday night game.

FINAL: Islanders 5 at Mooseheads 6 OT
Stars: 3. Alex Dostie CHA | 2. Nico Hischier HAL | 1. Jake Coughler HAL
Attendance: 7,772
MC's Top Herd: Jake Coughler

GAME LOG
First period
1:36 HAL Maxime Fortier (31) | A: Hischier & Groulx
4:43 HAL Keigan Goetz (8) | A: Moynihan & Bishop
14:04 HAL Benoit-Olivier Groulx (17) | A: Hischier & McIsaac

Second period
8:55 CHA Alex Dostie (28), PP | A: Brisebois & Beauchemin
9:58 HAL Jake Coughler (29), PP | A: Chainey & Hischier
17:42 CHA Alex Dostie (29) | A: Sprong

Third period
2:35 HAL Jake Coughler (30) | Durandeau & Lavoie
4:43 CHA Filip Chlapik (33) | A: Marsh & Vesterinen
7:21 CHA Kameron Kielly (33), PP | A: Marsh & Sprong
11:50 CHA Francois Beauchemin (44) | A: Dostie & Sprong

Overtime
0:54 HAL Jake Coughler (31) | A: Fortier & Gravel

Powerplay: CHA - 2-for-4, HAL - 1-for-2
Shots: 39-34 in favour of Halifax

MISSING IN ACTION: Barratt Dachyshyn (injury), Blade Mann-Dixon (injury), Caleb Rich and Ben Higgins

SCORES
Acadie-Bathurst 4 at Cape Breton 6
Saint John 5 at Moncton 0
Blainville-Boisbriand 3 at Drummondville 6
Chicoutimi 5 at Quebec 3
Rouyn-Noranda 2 at Shawinigan 3
Val-d'Or 3 at Sherbrooke 2

UP NEXT: Halifax will host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night for a special St. Patrick's Day game. Puck drops at 7pm.