Linden Bahm’s last-minute heroics earned the Halifax Mooseheads a point that none of them felt they deserved.
The 19-year-old forward netted the game-tying goal with 33.5 seconds remaining in what would eventually be a 3-2 shootout loss to the Bathurst Titan at the Metro Centre.
The Mooseheads’ coaching staff addressed what was mostly an uninspired effort in the locker room post-game.
“We know what we did wrong and we talked about it,” Bahm said. “We came out flat. If we had come out with energy, it would have been a really good game for us to win.”
The last-place Mooseheads, whose playoff hopes fade every time they don’t get two points out of a game, considered the matchup with the young Titan team (21-25-5-5) winnable.
But without the energy they’ve shown during a recent stretch, they were lucky to even be in position to tie it.
“We got a point out of it, that’s probably the only positive,” Bahm said bluntly. “We need all the points we can get.”
“It’s still a loss,” countered Halifax defenceman Pascal Amyot moments later. “We play for two points every night. It’s better than nothing, yeah, but it’s disappointing. We know we can give a lot better effort than that.”
Justin Pender scored Halifax’s other goal, while Mooseheads goalie Mark Yetman was largely responsible for the point, making 34 saves and getting the nod as third star.
Yetman was beaten on shootout attempts by Spencer Jezegou and Artem Demkov but continues to shine after being handed a heavy workload of 12 starts in the past 13 games.
“Yeti is playing great,” Bahm said. “He’s been backstopping us, getting shot after shot, and he’s coming up big. That’s what we need, and he’s doing a great job.”
The Mooseheads (15-33-3-3) are two points behind Lewiston and three behind Val-d’Or and Baie-Comeau. They must pass two of those teams in the final 14 games to make the playoffs.
• The crowd of 5,209 is the second lowest on record in franchise history, eight more than the crowd of 5,209 last Oct. 30 … Forward Matt Boland sat out with a shoulder injury … The Mooseheads hit the road for the next three games starting Friday against the Gatineau Olympiques.
Fan favourites
The Mooseheads are slowly inching closer toward naming the franchise’s all-time fan favourite.
The Mooseheads named goaltender Pascal Leclaire No. 8 on the all-time list yesterday, as voted by their fans during the first half of the season. The top seven players will be unveiled prior to each of the team’s remaining home games.
Last year’s captain, Andrew Bodnarchuk, was named No. 9 while former 60-goal scorer Jason King was No. 10.
Robbie Sutherland, Alexandre Picard, Ramzi Abid, Petr Vrana and Kevin Cormier form the rest of the Top 15.
