Mooseheads battle back for win over PEI Rocket

The Halifax Mooseheads pulled out an exciting 5-4 shootout win over the PEI Rocket Wednesday night.

“It’s nice to win a shootout, we’ve been in them before and struggled at times,” said assistant coach Jason Troini.

The Moose were outshot 35-22, however they still managed to win with the help of goaltender Peter Delmas.

The Mooseheads pulled ahead on a pair of goals early in the second, and it appeared they might run away with the game.

However PEI’s Jordan Escott decided the game wasn’t over yet when he scored two goals just seconds apart to tie the game at three.

In the third PEI’s Benjamin Casavant notched his 27th of the season and pulled the PEI Rocket ahead for the first lead of the night.

It wasn’t until 3:20 left in the game that Mooseheads captain Tomas Knotek tied the game at four, sending the game to overtime. Knotek had four goals during the team’s five-game homestand.

“Tomas has obviously struggled when he came back from the World Juniors, he’s shooting the puck now, and he’s more aggressive with the puck,” says Troini.

Gabe Desjardins was the only shootout scorer as both goaltenders shut the door on the first three shooters.

“He’s been finding his touch,” says Troini about Desjardins.

“He’s a big factor, when he plays well we win, and it was nice to see him put up on that top line.”

The Mooseheads now head out on the road, they play the Rimouski Oceanic Saturday, with a 5pm AST start.

Jennifer Casey was born and raised in Halifax. She loves all sports but tries to stick to writing about hockey for sanity purposes. You can follow her on twitter @jenncaseyhfx