Four unanswered goals were not enough for the Halifax Mooseheads on Thursday night as they fell to the Gatineau Olympiques 6 to 5 in a shootout at Centre Slush Puppie.
The Mooseheads opened the scoring at 1:37 of the first period as Halifax pressured the Gatineau defence and Oleg Kulebiakin found Caylen Blake, who ripped a shot on Olympiques goaltender Danai Shaiikov. Shaiikov made the initial save before Jasu Mensonen fired the rebound into the net.
Gatineau responded with two goals to take a one goal lead into the first intermission. Maxim Dubé buried the puck past Owen Bresson after a two-on-one in the Mooseheads zone, and Noah Florent recovered a loose puck before deking around Bresson and finding the back of the Halifax goal.
In the second period, Simon Xavier Cyr extended Gatineau’s lead, but the Mooseheads controlled the frame after that. Amelio Santini tapped a puck into the Olympiques net at 12:54, Quinn Kennedy sniped a shot from the right wing faceoff circle past Shaiikov at 16:37, and Owen Phillips fired a point shot into the goal at 17:32 to give Halifax a one-goal lead heading into the third.
Shawn Carrier put Halifax up by two less than a minute into the final period, blasting a one-timer from Phillips past Shaiikov on the power play. Gatineau forced overtime, however, as Dylan Allie and Louis Étienne Halley each scored to tie the game.
After a scoreless overtime, the shootout was required and Dubé was the hero for Gatineau as he beat Bresson to secure the win.
With the loss, Halifax falls to 23-24-3-3 on the season.
All three stars went to Gatineau. Cyr earned first star with a goal and two assists. Dubé was named second star with a goal and an assist, and third star went to Allie with a goal.
The Mooseheads are back in action on Friday, Feb. 20, as they continue their final Quebec road trip of the season against the Drummondville Voltigeurs at Centre Marcel Dionne.
Puck drop is set for 8 p.m. Live coverage can be heard on 95.7 NewsRadio with Garreth MacDonald.