Panthers defeat Aigles Bleus 4-1

MONCTON – Université de Moncton Aigles Bleus (3-20=8pts, 7th position) fell 4-1 to the University of Prince Edward Island Panthers (8-17-1=17pts, 5th position) in an Atlantic University Sport men's hockey game, Friday at the J.-Louis-Lévesque Arena in front of over 400 spectators. 

The Blue and Gold plays AUS second place team, University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds (20-2-3=43pts), Saturday in Fredericton. The Aigles Bleus stand five points back of Dalhousie University Tigers, in sixth and last position to qualify for the playoffs. The Blue and Gold have lost 8 games in a row, and they have not won in 2018. 

Sam Aulie, Ryan MacKinnon, Beau McCue and Cody Payne were able to get the puck behind Moncton goaltender, Alexi Thibaudeau, on 33 shots. Thibodeau was left alone with an opponent, many times. Vincent Deslauriers (Robbie Graham, Alexis Roy), at the end of the third period, was the Moncton scorer. The Aigles managed 21 shots against Matt Mahalak, including four only in the middle stanza. Moncton was 0 for 6 on the power play and the Panthers, 0 for 4. 

''This is very deceiving because this was a very important game for us,'' Moncton coach Judes Vallée said of the result. ''Our special units did not do much tonight, our power play did not score. We did have occasions, we were shooting towards the net, but not many pucks did make it through. We cannot win a game if we dont shoot on net. Our passing was also lacking tonight, we could not get two in a row. We will digest this game because we have a big challenge against UNB, Saturday. We are in a process and decisions will be made at the end of the season. We will finish this season with pride and with our head high.'' 

According to winger Jean-François Plante, ''This is very deceiving for us, we needed two points. We need to find ways of scoring and wake up fast. We did not have many shots on goal tonight, we need to work harder in the opposing zone and shoot. Our players make it to the net, but not the puck.''