March 6th, 2008
Eagles Defeat Wildcats, Culligan Scores Shootout Winner
The Screaming Eagles twice erased three-goal deficits enroute to a 5-4 shootout victory before 5578 fans at the Moncton Coliseum on Wednesday night.
Jordan Clendenning scored twice, while Jeremy Gouchie and Jan Piskacek added single markers to pace the Screaming Eagles attack prior to the shootout. In the shootout, Chris Culligan was the only player among the ten shooters from both teams to find the back of the net, as he beat Nicola Riopel to give the Screaming Eagles the win.
Pierre-Marc Lessard, Matthew Brenton, Jesse Biduke, and Chris Morehouse looked after the scoring for Moncton.
The Wildcats, who scored all of their goals in the first period, jumped on the Screaming Eagles early as Lessard scored his 13th of the year from Zach Sill at the 1:31 mark.
Moncton made it 2-0 at 6:21 with a goal by Brenton from Ted Stephens and Kelan Herr.
They would increase the margin to 3-0 on Biduke’s 15th marker, on the power play, from Matt Eagles and Andrew Eastman at 14:11. That would spell the end of starting goaltender Olivier Roy, who gave up three goals on 10 shots.
Clendenning put the Eagles on the board with a power play goal from Alex Lamontagne and Chris Culligan at 19:04.
The Wildcats would restore their three goal advantage before the end of the first period as Morehouse beat Marek Benda, who had replaced Roy, with his 14th from Sill and Scott Brannon at the 19:36 mark.
In the second period, the Screaming Eagles would begin their comeback as Gouchie knocked home a rebound for his 5th of the year on a play with Philippe Fontaine and Joey Haddad at 10:38.
They would climb to within one, as Clendenning scored his second of the game and 31st of the season at 11:40, on an Eagles power play, from Lamontagne and Dean Ouellet.
Trailing by one in the third period, Jan Piskacek scored on a long shot from the blueline at 4:02. It was the Czech defenceman’s 3rd of the season. Haddad picked up another assist on the play.
From that point on the teams would trade chances, but it wasn’t until Culligan scored in the shootout that somebody would score again, sending the Screaming Eagles to a huge victory.
The win moves the Screaming Eagles four points ahead of both Acadie-Bathurst and Lewiston in the battle for third place and just two points behind second place Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Screaming Eagles and the Sea Dogs will face-off in a two-game weekend series this Saturday and Sunday at Centre 200.
