Panthers finish weekend homestand winless after loss to Acadia

By Thomas Becker

It was a weekend of missed opportunities for the UPEI Panthers.

They could've cushioned their second-place spot in the standings—that was relatively secure for most of the season—but instead let it slip after back-to-back home losses, including Saturday night's 3-2 defeat to the Acadia Axemen. 

Now, for the Panthers (15-9-2) to earn the coveted bye, they'll have to finish with more wins in the final four games of the regular season than the red-hot Saint Mary's Huskies. A tough task to say the least. 

TJ Shea did his part, scoring both goals for the Panthers with Kyle Maksimovich delivering two helpers. For the Axemen, Nick Deakin-Poot and Cole Nagy led the charge, as the pair finished with a goal and an assist. Adam McMaster also scored in the win. 

For the second straight night, the Panthers once again opened the scoring, this time just 3:48 into the first period on a power play marker from Shea. Maksimovich had the puck in the slot and passed it behind his back to Troy Lajeunesse, who fed it in front to Shea for the redirect.

However, that lead was short-lived as the Axemen (9-14-3) scored less than four minutes later. On the scoring play, Deakin-Poot battled through a couple Panthers before slipping a soft shot by Lucas Fitzpatrick for the tying goal.

Acadia came right back and scored again 53 seconds later when Bailey Peach's harmless shot from the blue line skipped to Fitzpatrick, who gave up a long rebound that McMaster took a couple hacks at before scoring.

The Panthers would even the score at 15:17 when Shea took a pass from Lajeunesse through the neutral zone and beat a defender with a nifty move before tucking a wrist shot in the top right corner.

UPEI appeared to have settled down after scoring the tying goal, but was undone by the Axemen early in the second period, where they took the lead and never relinquished it. At 4:18, Luke Zazula fired a shot in traffic where Cole Nagy slipped the puck by the goalie to make it 3-2. 

The Panthers desperately searched for the equalizer for the remainder of the game, as they outshot their opponent 22-10 in the final two periods, but once again a rookie goaltender denied them that opportunity. Zachary Paputsakis recorded 32 saves and earned his first AUS win in his ninth start of the season.

"They (Panthers) are a good team and they battled hard, but we're a hardworking team too, and we know that if we play our best, we can compete with any team in this league," Paputsakis said.

The Panthers travel to Halifax on Wednesday to take on the Dalhousie Tigers. The Axemen don't play until Friday as they make their way to Fredericton for a tilt against the UNB Reds.

Photo Credit: Janessa Hogan