Panthers snap losing streak with dominant performance over St. FX

ANTIGONISH, NS—The U SPORTS No. 7 ranked UPEI Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the STFX X-Men Saturday night at the Charles V. Keating Centre. 

Both teams were missing key personnel as STFX's Liam Hawel (Arnprior, ON) and Matthew Struthers (Milton, ON) and UPEI's Matt Brassard (Barrie, ON) and TJ Shea (Tignish, PE) are currently in Lake Placid, NY with Team Canada for the FISU World University Games.  

After a physical first period that saw five minor penalties and one misconduct handed out, the Panthers got out to a 3-1 lead, scoring three consecutive goals after the X-Men got on the board first 1:44 into the game.  

Connor Roberts (Owen Sound, ON) found Logan Chisholm (Antigonish, NS) open in the slot and his pass from behind the UPEI net was one-timed in by Chisholm, beating Lucas Fitzpatrick (Lower Sackville, NS) five hole.  

The Panthers responded four minutes later, scoring their first goal of the game when Kaleb Pearson (St. Marys, ON) took advantage of a loose puck in the X zone as the X-Men couldn't clear the puck, and he fired a low shot short side that beat Joseph Raaymakers (Chatham, ON) in the X net. 

Another turnover in the X zone resulted in the Panthers second goal as Troy Lajeunesse (Sturgeon Falls, ON) capitalized and potted his own rebound.  

The X-Men killed off just over a minute of a 5-on-3 power play for UPEI, but while still up a man, forward Carson MacKinnon (Summerside, PE) snapped one from the high slot area off a pass from Darian Pilon (Sault Ste. Marie, ON) to give the visitors the 3-1 advantage. 

Shots in the opening period favoured UPEI at 16-13. 

The X-Men got into more penalty trouble to start the second period, receiving a double minor for kneeing. The Panthers took advantage and scored their second power play marker of the game at 3:25. Darian Pilon intercepted a clearing attempt by Raaymakers and fed a streaking Zac Beauregard (Repentigny, QC) who one-timed the puck in tight to give the Panthers a 4-1 lead. 

UPEI made it 5-1 off another powerplay marker at 8:23 as Kurtis Henry (Niagara Falls, ON) beat Raaymakers on a screened shot from the point. 

The X-Men had a couple key scoring chances off the stick of Jacob Hudson (Antigonish, NS) while on a 5-on-3 advantage for over a minute, but couldn't solve Fitzpatrick and the Panthers penalty kill unit came through. 

STFX did cash in on the man-advantage with 1:23 left in the period as Conner Bruggen-Cate (Langley, BC) potted a rebound off a Dallas Farrell (Cardigan, PE) shot.  

The Panthers outshot the X-Men 14-7 in the middle frame as they held a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes of play. 

The third period saw revolving penalty box doors for both squads but no goals scored. The X-Men went 1 for 10 on the power play in the game as a total of 52 penalty minutes were assessed in the game. 

Finals shots favored the Panthers at 32-27 as Fitzpatrick had 25 saves for the win as his squad improves to 15-7-1-1 on the season. 

The X-Men drop to 11-12-1-0 as they lost their second straight game. 

Both teams are back in AUS action on Friday, January 27th. The Panthers will host Saint Mary's, while the X-Men will host UNB. Puck drop for both games is 7:00 pm.

RECAP BY: Krista McKenna, STFX Sports Information / PHOTOS BY: Bryan Kennedy