Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

“This time the ‘d’ was behind me and he hooked me, so I fell and managed to get the puck in anyway,” said Hertzberg, describing his second marker, late in the third, the only power-play goal of the game. “We had a lot of good shots. The last couple of games we haven’t had so many shots. We played a pretty good 60-minute game this time.”

Pier-Antoine Dion netted his first goal with the Screaming Eagles on a rebound off a shot from the point 4:12 into the game to put the home squad up 1-0. And his teammate Taylor MacDougall potted his 12th of the season at the 15:48-mark to make it 2-0 for Cape Breton heading into the second stanza.

Luke Adam opened scoring in the second at 8:23, going low on Baie-Comeau goalie Simon Giroux’s stick-side for his 26th goal of the season. And 45 second later, Hertzberg blitzed in to pot his first of the contest, giving the Eagles a 4-0 advantage heading into the third frame.

Hertzberg described his first goal as similar to his second, the major difference being he was upright.

“I got a good pass and I was alone on the goalie,” he said. “I had an opening low-blocker.”

Defenceman Kalin Paul of Membertou, who was acquired by the Eagles from the Drakkar earlier this month, scored his first goal of the season and sixth of his career at the 9:26 mark of the third to put Cape Breton up 5-0. And fellow defenceman Morgan Ellis added to the home side’s lead with his third goal of the season at 14:09.

Hertzberg netted his second of the night at 15:37 and Jan Piskacek, who assisted on two earlier goals, didn’t ask anyone to return the favour, scoring unassisted with 22 seconds left in the match for the 8-0 finish.

“The good thing is we allowed no goals,” Screaming Eagles head coach and general manager Mario Durocher said of Olivier Roy’s fifth shutout of the season, which ties him for the league lead with Kevin Poulin of the Victoriaville Tigres.

“We gave some breakaways. He had to make some big saves to keep that zero.”

Roy appeared a little tender after he was caught out of position and had to make a big stretch for the save early in the third. He appeared even more sore after getting rattled later in the period.

“I don’t think it’s a big thing,” said Durocher, adding that the team doctor was going to take a look at Roy. “I think it should be all right, the way he was talking to us.”

Roy improved his record to 20-16 with the win, while Giroux’s record fell to 1-16 with the loss.

Cape Breton outshot Baie-Comeau by a whopping 53-21, though the Eagles were only 1-for-6 on the power play.

“Our power play had some good chances but we were not able to bury it,” said Durocher. “We’re going to continue to work on that all week long, to be even better at that aspect.”

The Drakkar were 0-for-6 on their power plays.

The Eagles’ next two games are against the Drakkar, in Baie-Comeau, Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m., after which they travel to Chicoutimi to take on the Saguenéens, Sunday at 4 p.m.

NOTES: Out of Sunday’s lineup were forwards Stephen Horyl (upper body), Max Legault (lower body), Ashton Bernard (wrist), and Nick Parker (lower body), who has joined the Eagles and is doing rehab.

gmacvicar@cbpost.com