Islanders in control of series

Charlottetown heads to Bathurst with a two-game lead

The Charlottetown Islanders have taken control of a Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff series against the Acadie-bathurst Titan.

The Islanders defeated the Titan 5-1 on May 16 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five matchup after back-to-back wins on home ice. Charlottetown posted a series-opening 4-1 victory on May 15.

The two victories put the Islanders in a position to win the series in Game 3 in Bathurst, N.B., on May 19 at 7 p.m. A Titan win will force a Game 4, also at the K.C. Irving Regional Centre, on May 20.

“We thought coming in that rest was a big weapon that we had versus them, and we took advantage of them,” said Islanders general manager and head coach Jim Hulton. “I thought both games had a similar script to them.

“I didn't think our start was very good, but we stuck with it and started to eventually wear them down and took the game over. We are pleased with where we are at, but we know there is a lot of work left to be done.”

LAPENNA SHARP

Before 2,207 fans at Eastlink Centre, Islanders goaltender Franky Lapenna turned in a solid 29-save performance. Lapenna looked sharp in the first period as the Islanders took a 1-0 lead into the intermission despite being outshot 14-9.

“Franky kept us in it in the first period,” said Islanders forward and team captain Brett Budgell, who scored two goals. “I thought he was huge, and was our best player in the game.”

Lapenna has been rock solid for the Islanders throughout the playoffs. He has allowed only two goals in his last three games – one of which was a fluky own goal in Game 1 against the Titan.

The left-handed Lapenna has a goals-against average of 1.20 and a save percentage of .943 in five playoff games.

“Throughout these two games (against Acadiebathurst),

it's probably as in control and as calm as he's been with us,” said Hulton, who added Lapenna's play in the first period bought the Islanders some time to overcome a slow start. “That is what you want. You have an elite goaltender and you want him to be a differencemaker.”

Patrick Guay, who scored 55 goals in the regular season, scored twice and added two assists to lead the Islanders' offence in Game 2. Zac Roy also scored while Xavier Simoneau (2), Lukas Cormier, Dawson Stairs, Ryan Maynard, Jérémie Biakabutuka,

Jakub Brabenec and William Trudeau added assists.

“Happy with the top to bottom contributions, but I still don’t think we’ve played our A-game, so that’s exciting to think that we can be better,” said Hulton. “We know they are going to be better with two days’ rest and playing on home ice. The challenge is always can your next game be your best game?”

SHUTOUT

Ben Allison spoiled Lapenna’s shutout bid at 14:12 of the third period.

The Islanders took control of the game with a three-goal outburst in a 4:17 span in the first half of the second period.

Jan Bednar stopped 26 of 31 shots for the Titan.

“It was an intense game,” said Guay. “I don’t think we started the way we wanted to start, but we quickly gathered up after and a big second period helped us to get that win.”

The Islanders went 1-for-5 on the power play, and the Titan had a 1-for-6 summary with the man advantage.

Islanders forward Jarrett Todd did not return to the game after he was hit hard into the boards. Charlottetown forward Ben Boyd was assessed a match penalty for boarding late in the third period.

The game’s three stars were:

1. Patrick Guay (Islanders),

2. Brett Budgell (Islanders), 3. Xavier Simoneau (Islanders).