Antigonish, NS – The Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus overcame a 3-1 third period deficit to comeback to defeat the StFX X-Men 4-3 in a shootout Friday night in the first AUS regular season game of 2020 at the Charles V. Keating Centre.
Maxime St-Cyr (St-Didace, QC) tied the game with only 41 seconds left to send it to overtime then Subway player of the game Vincent Deslauriers (Blainville, QC) notched the shootout winner, potting his second goal of the night.
The goal was the only one scored in the shootout as Édouard Montpetit (Valleyfield, QC) turned aside all four X-Men shooters.
The game opened with a scoreless first period as both teams opened up playing defensively in the first 10 minutes of play.
The X-Men had a couple of power play chances and outshot the Aigles Bleus 11-3 but were unable to convert.
It was Moncton who opened the scoring in the game as Alexis Roy (Amos, QC) went top shelf on Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) in the X net at the 8:28 mark of the second period.
The X-Men tied it up with a goal from captain Mark Tremaine (Dartmouth, NS) at 14:51 as he knocked in a rebound off a goal crease scramble.
StFX forward Matt Graham (Bedford, NS) gave the X-Men their first lead of the game with just under two minutes left in the period as he broke in alone on Montpetit and scored a shorthanded marker from the far blocker side.
Shots favoured the X-Men 9-8 as they took the 2-1 lead after 40 minutes into the dressing room.
Jeremiah Addison (Etobicoke, ON) upped the lead to 3-1 with a power play goal just over nine minutes into the third period, scoring off a nice cross-crease shot as he brought the puck out from behind the Moncton net.
The Aigles Bleus capitalized on a puck-covering attempt from goalie Raaymakers while they were down two-men on the penalty kill. Deslauriers jumped on the loose puck in the X crease and turned around to fire the shorthanded goal past Raaymakers to pull the visitors to within one.
With an extra attacker on the ice and Montpetit at the bench, Moncton pressured for the equalizer and St-Cyr picked up a rebound after Raaymakers made a save off a shot from the point, and after making another save, got his own rebound and scored up high, sending the game to overtime.
In the three-on-three overtime period, each team exchanged scoring chances but the goaltenders held strong, forcing the shootout to set the stage for Deslauriers' game winner.
Final shots in the game were 26-22 for the X-Men.
Deslauriers, with his two-goal performance was named the game's first star and Subway player of the game. X-Men forward Addison was second star and defenseman Santino Centorame (Mississauga, ON) was third star.
Both teams will be back in AUS action on Saturday night. The Aigles Bleus head to Halifax to take on the Dalhousie Tigers while the X-Men will host the UNB Reds. Puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm.
-30-
Courtesy Krista McKenna, StFX Sports Information