After perhaps thinking they'd turned the corner with their two wins against Lewiston last weekend, the "new" Cape Breton Screaming Eagles received another reality check last night, in the form of a 5-3 loss to the Rimouski Oceanic at C200.
Rimouski simply wanted last night's game more than the Eagles did, and they played with an urgency and intensity that the Eagles weren't quite able to match, at least not in the first two periods. By period three, Cape Breton seemed to realize that they were going to need a full 100% effort to beat these guys, and they did dominate that third period, but it was "too little, too late."
It also didn't help matters that the Eagles ran into a hot goaltender. Tommy Legault was outstanding in the Oceanic net, making 34 saves (many of them from point blank range) and earning first star honours. Rimouski's bevy of young up-and-coming stars looked great last night, none more dominant that Czech forward Michael Frolik, who scored two goals and played great in all three zones of the rink.
For the Eagles, the line of Chris Culligan-James Sheppard-Robert Slaney had a decent game, with Sheppard and Slaney scoring highlight-reel goals, and goaltender Ondrej Pavelec was once again solid in the crease despite the loss, but too many players had "off" nights last night.
Friday's results were a significant blow to the Eagles in the standings. Along with Cape Breton's loss, the Lewiston MAINEiacs and Moncton Wildcats both recorded wins. The Eagles now sit three points back of Moncton for second place in the East Division, and a whopping eight back of Lewiston. After last weekend's sweep of the MAINEiacs, the Eagles were just four points back of the division leaders. It doesn't take long to lose the ground you worked so hard to make up, but with a couple of great efforts in coming games, it may not be long before we make up some serious ground either.
The loss also cost the Eagles a chance to establish a new team record for consecutive home ice wins. They entered the game on an 11-game home winning streak, which tied the mark set back in 2003-2004.
The challenge now is for Cape Breton to rebound with a great effort on Sunday afternoon against the Drummondville Voltigeurs, who have a similar potential to surprise a team that takes them lightly. Nothing but a full 60-minute effort will suffice. It's up to the Screaming Eagles to make that happen.
Edit: I edited out the content about the possibility of Derick Brassard returning to the Voltigeur lineup tomorrow, as I've since received word that he's not supposed to be back for a couple of weeks yet. Sorry for anyone that may have been misled.
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4 comments:
theres nothing worse than having a week off,they always come out flat,pavelic looked really good,he made some huge stops as did their goalie.the eagles should have had a heavyweight this year, i feel sorry for gallant having to fight all these monsters.better luck on sunday.
I expected the result I saw last night, this team has a habit of not showing up for a full 60 min when there is 4-5 day break between games.
The offence wasn't the issue last night, it was the incredibly poor defensive zone coverage. The first 3 goals were all cross crease passes that Pavy didn't have a chance on, but he did stop a couple of other similar chances.
I am going on the record right now in saying that this team better learn to play a full 60 min of hockey before they start the playoffs or we will see an early exit again.
This isn't a problem only the Eagles have, it's a problem with any team in any sport that has a stacked team. When winning becomes easy, it's hard to keep the intensity and get up for games that don't really matter.
But I think it's the coaching staff that is responsible for making sure the intensity is there, to prepare the team for each and every game. Last night, they failed to do this.
Different topic, after an unimpressive handful of games since coming to the Eagles, Bourdon showed flashed of why he is going to make this team better. I don't know who or what woke him up, but I was impressed with his play. I thought he played a great game overall, showed some booming shots from the point, a few great end-to-end rushes, some nice hits and a steady presence on D.
Awesome goals by Shepperd and Slaney too.
I agree with almost everything that Tommy said with the exception of saying that offense wasn't an issue. There were more missed passes and shots wide of the net than I've seen in quite a while by this Eagles team. The one thing that is thrilling to watch, when the Eagles are on their game, is the crisp tic-tac-toe passing followed by the booming shot right on net. There weren't too many of those Friday evening. We all know that this team can do the job and do it well - on all lines, on the defense, and in the net. The thing is, they have to give it their all at every game, for the whole game! There will be losses - no team can win every game - but it is different when the loss comes despite a hard-fought 60 minute (or more) game. We are in the final stretch, so every game is important. Hopefully, Friday evening's game was a wake-up call to the team and from here on in, every game is played to it's fullest.
GO EAGLES GO! And let's get Drummondville this afternoon.
Watching the game on Friday night it was clear the Eagles just didn't show up in the first half of the game. They were very laid back and thought the win would be handed to them, this was a very important 2 points with Moncton winning their game, we cant afford to lose games like that. Poor prepartion! Bourdon did show a few flashes of great play but he also showed some very lazy play as well, the third Oceanic goal was a direct result of Bourdon non-chalantly backhanding the puck off boards right to 2 trailing Oceanic players, he has to clear the puck in those cases.
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