Fortier Leads Herd Past Dogs

After getting one point in his last 5 games, captain Maxime Fortier had a four point night on Saturday evening to help lead the Halifax Mooseheads to a 5-2 victory over the 17th place Saint John Sea Dogs. The Herd rebounded big time tonight after getting whooped a week ago in Bathurst against the Titan, outshooting the away team 7-1 early in the game. However, Saint John scored the first goal of the game a little over 6 minutes in. Fortier jammed the puck in past Truro, NS native Matthew Williams which prompted a delay as loads of teddy bears were thrown on to the Scotiabank Centre ice. The bags full of stuffed animals will be given to Ronald MacDonald House and than passed out to sick kids. With 16 seconds left in the first period, Arnaud Durandeau picked up his 15th goal of the season to put the Herd up 2-1 after 20 minutes while Halifax outshot the Sea Dogs 20-7 in the frame. In the second the boys in blue came out to play and tied the game late in the middle frame. The Moose found another gear again in the third scoring 3 goals on 15 shots in the final twenty. With Benoit-Olivier Groulx and Kevin Mason both off for goaltender interference at the same time, which I've never seen happen before, Max picked up his second goal of the match to put the insurance goal away. Rookie Justin Barron also played his first game of 2018, after being off all this month because of injury.

FINAL: Sea Dogs 2 at Mooseheads 5
Stars: 3. Mat,thew Williams SNB | 2. Otto Somppi HAL | 1. Maxime Fortier HAL
Attendance: 8,518
MC's Top Herd: Max Fortier

GAME LOG
First period
6:15 SNB Cedric Pare (11) | A: Boucher & Poirier
10:47 HAL Maxime Fortier (22) | A Kyte & Moynihan
19:44 HAL Arnaud Durandeau (15), PP | A: McIsaac & Lavoie

Second period
16:08 SNB Kevin Gursoy (10), PP | A: Safin & Salda

Third period
3:19 HAL Otto Somppi (16) | A: Fortier & Flower
14:08 HAL Maxime Fortier (23) | A: McIsaac & Somppi
19:48 HAL Raphael Lavoie (21), EN | A: Fortier & Flower

Shots: 40-25 in favour of Halifax
Powerplay: SNB - 1-for-5; HAL - 1-for-3

NOT DRESSED - Cooper Jones (healthy), FIlip Zadina (suspended) and Ryan Barbosa (healthy)

SCORES
Cape Breton 2 at Charlottetown 1
Quebec 3 at Sherbrooke 6
Moncton 5 at Chicoutimi 4
Victoriaville 8 at Val-d'Or 7

UP NEXT: Saint John and the Mooseheads will stay in Halifax as they both play again tomorrow afternoon. Puck drops at 3pm.