Cabaday shines in playoff debut as Panthers take Game 1
The UPEI Panthers couldn’t have asked for a better start to their first playoff run in three years.
By Reegan MacAulay
The UPEI Panthers couldn't have asked for a better start to their first playoff run in three years.
Courtesy of an early-game scoring surge and a statement Atlantic University Sport playoff debut by goaltender Erin Cabaday, the Panthers drew first blood to open their AUS best-of-three quarter-final series against the Saint Mary's Huskies, winning 3-1 Wednesday night at MacLauchlan Arena.
A 29-save performance by Cabaday, highlighted by 15 stops in the third period, combined with strong special-teams efforts, secured the Panthers a 1-0 series lead.
"I thought it was a good game from start to finish," Cabaday said. "The girls were blocking shots, which really helped, especially with (Saint Mary's) big defenders they have at the point. But I thought the energy was there right from the beginning, which was huge."
The victory was a significant turnaround following a tough ending to the regular season, which saw the Panthers drop a 4-3 overtime decider to the last-place Mount Allison Mounties.
Cabaday said the message from that game and heading into the postseason was to flush it, learn from it, and move forward.
"Playoffs are like a whole new season. Got to move forward and have a goldfish memory. Same as the win tonight. We just got to keep thinking about Friday and keep moving forward. Stick to our game, do what we do best, and bring the energy again."
The Panthers drew two penalties within the first 2:02 of the game and wasted no time converting to open the scoring. At 2:46, following a Chloe McCabe shot from the bottom of the left circle, the puck bounced to Kali MacDonald at the bottom of the right circle, who backhanded a rebound into the open net for the 1-0 goal.
The Huskies ran into more penalty trouble early in the second period, which UPEI capitalized on to double its lead. At 7:21 of the frame, Anjali Simms fired a point shot that ricocheted off a pair of skates through traffic, with the final bounce landing in the low slot and catching goaltender Sophie Scully off guard as the puck slipped past her pad.
Just 5:08 later, Ashley McCutcheon stormed through the neutral zone, deked through multiple Huskies players into the offensive zone, and snapped the puck underneath Scully's blocker to triple UPEI's lead to 3-0.
The Panthers held a 17-14 shot advantage after 40 minutes, but the Huskies burst out of the second intermission with more urgency, drawing several penalties and outfiring UPEI 16-6 in the third frame. Their lone goal came at 19:27 with a power-play rebound goal by Keyara Nelson.
Cabaday finished 29-for-30 in net for UPEI, and the Panthers went 2-for-4 on the power play and 7-for-8 on the penalty kill. McCutcheon was named the Boston Pizza Player of the Game.
The Panthers will look to finish the series in Game 2 on Friday night in Halifax, N.S.
Head coach Sean Fisher's expectations for Game 1 were met, and he anticipates a more fired-up Huskies team on Friday.
"It was exactly what I thought it would be as far as physical and competitive," Fisher said. "The pace was what I thought it would be. We'll get more of what they were showing us there at the end. They kind of settled into the game maybe a little later than we did."
"They're a well-coached team, so they'll make some adjustments, and we'll have to make some. They'll be fired up, and the pushback from them will be big. We'll have to have a good day of practice tomorrow, and then get down there and try and get the job done."
Photos by Janessa Vanden Broek
