The Tigers used their speed to their advantage Friday evening in Campbellton and skated to a 4-0 win over Edmundston. Near the eight minute mark of the first period scoring attempts by the Blizzard were turned aside by Tigers goalie, Isaak Pelletier and Tommy Callaghan quickly turned the play back up ice. After entering the Blizzard’s end, he passed cross-ice to newcomer, Antoine Pelletier who immediately set up Pierre-Luc Lurette for a shot from the top of the slot. Blizzard goalie, Ewan MacDonald, got a piece of the puck but it continued past his glove and across the goal line. Campbellton’s second tally came near the end of the period with the Tigers again applying pressure in Edmundston’s zone. After battling hard along the right half-board, Coleton Perry moved the puck to Pascal Valcourt behind the net. His attempt to pass to Mitch Britton in front just missed and the puck went back to Sam Dow at the point. Dow sent the puck back towards the net where it appeared to bounce first off Britton and then Valcourt and into the net.
Both goalies were perfect in the second period with MacDonald of the Blizzard turning in a notable effort by stopping twenty-two shots to keep his team behind only by a pair. However, early in the third, the Tigers figured out how to get the puck past him again, not once, but twice within the first two minutes. With a man advantage the Tigers were able to control the play and moved the puck well around the boards. Lurette, from the right point passed over to Francis Thibeault who fired a hard shot off the back board. Parked in front of the net was Charles-William Gagné who out-battled the defenders and, with a couple of swings, banged the loose puck into the net. Thirty-seven seconds later the lead was widened to four. The play began when Sam Dow, with a neat poke check, broke up a developing Blizzard two-on-one rush at the Tigers’ blue line. Perry picked up the puck in the neutral zone and moved it ahead to Valcourt. Showing patience, Valcourt held on to the puck long enough to feed Dylan Coffey just as he crossed the blue line. Coffey swerved his way into the slot and unleashed a hard wrist shot which was stopped. MacDonald was unable to control the rebound which Valcourt immediately swept into the open net to put a cap on the scoring.
The Tigers earned all three game stars with Valcourt being third, Lurette, second and with the shut-out, Pelletier first.
This huge win for the Tigers , who outshot Edmundston forty to twenty-three, moved them into second place, a single point ahead of the Blizzard. Campbellton does have two games in hand as well. Tonight the Tigers will make that long cross-provincial trek to St. Stephen to tackle the Aces. You can follow the progress of the game here on the Tigers website.