Panthers roll past Tigers 6-1

HALIFAX, NS—The UPEI Panthers defeated the Dalhousie Tigers 6-1 on Saturday night at the Halifax Forum.

UPEI came out of the gates stronger tonight, outshooting the Tigers by a margin of 9 to 5 in the first period. The Panthers managed to open the scoring just eight minutes into the action thanks to an unassisted tally from second year forward Patrick LeBlanc (Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, NB). This was his first goal of the season so far. Dalhousie's Alexander MacDonald (Truro, NS) impressed with eight strong saves to keep the Tigers in the fight.

The start of the second period was marred by penalties from both squads. Both teams saw multiple chances on the power play, but it was at even strength that the Panthers doubled their lead just over halfway through this interval. This time it was defenseman Alexandre de Gagné (Mississauga, ON) from LeBlanc and Noah Sedore (Sharon, ON). UPEI put the game even further out of reach with their third tally just two minutes later. A nice sequence started by second-year forwards Landon Clow (Kelvin Grove, PEI) and Keiran Gallant (Covehead, PEI) culminated in Ben McFarlane (Ayr, ON) putting the game out of reach. Josh Currie (Pickering, ON) added a 4th for the Panthers just before the break.

Tonight's third period saw the Tigers claw a goal back early. Colin MacDougall (Carlisle, ON) was sprung on a breakaway before he deftly tucked the puck in the net. This was MacDougall's first goal of his young USports career. However, this momentum wouldn't last long, as the Panthers erased Dal's progress with Currie's second of the night, assisted by Cameron Morton (Kingston, ON). They would add one more before the night was done from Kaleb Pearson (St. Mary's, ON).

With the win, the Panthers improve to 2-4 on the season. Dal drops to 1-5 with the loss.

Dal will return to action next Friday night at 7pm AST up in New Brunswick, where they will face the Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus. The Panthers will head back to the island for next week's clash also taking place Friday night at 7pm AST against Saint Mary's.

RECAP COURTESY: Dalhousie Sports Information / PHOTOS BY: Nick Pearce