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Charlottetown Islanders

Playoff Preview: Round 2 - Shawinigan Cataractes

April 6, 2016 - Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL)
Charlottetown Islanders News Release


After a 4-2 victory over the Rimouski Oceanic in the first round, the Islanders are off to round two, where they take on the second-seeded Shawinigan Cataractes.

Shawinigan advanced to the second round with a 4-1 series victory over the Sherbrooke Phoenix, winning four games in a row after dropping game one at home.

With the teams having to travel a long distance between the two cities, the series will follow a 2-3-2 format, with the three home games taking place April 11th, 12th, and 14th.

Regular Season

The Cataractes finished the regular season second in the standings with 93 points and a 44-19-4-1 record. They easily won the East Division, finishing 14 points ahead of the second-best team in the division, which was the Oceanic.

The Cataractes were active during the December trading period to completely makeover their team, adding big pieces like Dmytro Timashov from Quebec, Danny Moynihan and Cavan Fitzgerald from Halifax, and Philippe Cadorette from Baie-Comeau.

The Islanders and the Cataractes met twice in the regular season, with both games taking place in the second half of the season. The Cataractes came away victorious from both contests. The first game took place at the Eastlink Centre on February 3rd. The Cataractes won that game 7-3, although the final score wasn't necessarily indicative of the play.

"I don't think it was a 7-3 game. I don't think that was a fair reflection of the game. If I walked away with anything from this evening, it's that we can play with anybody in the league when our focus is where it needs to be," Head Coach Jim Hulton said after that contest.

The second game took place on February 27th in Shawinigan and was a 3-1 loss for the Islanders, with Kameron Kielly scoring the lone goal late in the third period.

Home and Away

One of the strengths of the Islanders' second half was their play at home. That loss to Shawinigan on February 3rd was one of just three losses on home ice after Christmas for the Islanders. Including the three games in the first round of the playoffs, the Islanders have won 17 of their 19 home games in 2016.

With the overall record that Shawinigan had, it's unsurprising that they also had winning records both at home and on the road. They were 22-11-0-1 on home ice, and 22-8-4-0 on the road. In the first round, they won both of their road games and were 2-1-0-0 in their home games.

Goaltending

Fortunately for the Islanders, goaltending wasn't a storyline for Charlottetown in the first round this year. In the Rimouski-Charlottetown series, the focus was more on the Oceanic's goaltending situation, which allowed Mason McDonald to just fly under the radar and get the job done. That's exactly what he did, with a 2.72 GAA and a 0.922 SAV% in the series.

"It's been pretty easy," McDonald said after the series-clinching game six. "The guys made it pretty easy on me, keeping shots to the outside and what not. It's been fun."

At the other end of the ice for the Cataractes will be Philippe Cadorette. 20-year-old Cadorette spent the first half of the season playing pros after being invited to the Tampa Bay Lightning's training camp, and then played four games in the ECHL with the Norfolk Admirals. He allowed 11 goals in those four games, a GAA of 9.09. Baie-Comeau shipped him to Shawinigan during the trading period and in the first round he had a 1.96 GAA and a 0.926 SAV%.

Defense

The Islanders gave up 18 goals in six games in round 1, giving them a goal differential of +8. Only five Islanders players finished the round with a negative plus/minus - all with a -1 - and Luc Deschênes led the way as a +7.

Aside from game three, which the Islanders dominated, most of the games in the first-round series were tight-checking games, with three of them being decided in overtime. Hulton believes the team has become much more comfortable in those types of games, and they'll have to continue to do so in the next round.

Shawinigan, meanwhile, allowed 11 goals in their five games, an average of 2.2 per game. None of their players finished with a +/- of less than zero, and five players finished as a +7.

Offense

The Islanders had plenty of offense to rely on in the first round.

"Every line was firing. All four lines were going," said forward Daniel Sprong.

The only players to appear in a game and not pick up a point in the first round was Carl Gervais, who only appeared in two games. Even Mason McDonald picked up an assist in one game.

In game three alone, 16 of the Isles' 18 skaters registered a point. Samuel Blais leads the way with 12 points (three goals, nine assists) - ranking him third among all players - followed by Sprong with nine points (three goals, six assists). Defenceman Alexis Vanier came alive in the series and leads the team in goals with five.

Shawinigan is led in the playoffs by Dmytro Timashov with nine points (two goals and seven assists), and Alexis D'Aoust - who also leads the team in goals - with eight points (five goals and three assists).

Special Teams

The Islanders certainly have the advantage when it comes to special teams. Their power play was clicking in the first round with a 32.0% success rate, good for third-best in the league, while Shawinigan's power play was at just 16.7%.

On the penalty kill, the Islanders weren't that impressive with a rate of 77.3%. But their numbers still fare better than Shawinigan's, who were a second-worst 67.9%.

The Islanders were lucky to avoid the surging Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the second round, but will still face a big challenge in the second-seeded Cataractes.

The second round of the QMJHL playoffs gets underway on Thursday night in Shawinigan at 8 p.m. AST. Fans can catch the game shown live at Ise's Sports Bar or can tune in to George Matthews on Fair Isle Ford Isles Radio.

Tickets for games three and four at home are now on sale through the Eastlink Centre Box Office, by phone at (902) 629-6625, or online at www.eastlinkcentrepei.com.

Check out the Charlottetown Islanders Statistics

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Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League Stories from April 6, 2016


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