As far as head coach Bobby Smith is concerned, his Halifax Mooseheads wasted a solid effort by taking a handful of dumb penalties.
The Mooseheads lost their fourth straight game last night in Shawinigan, Que., falling 2-1 to the host Cataractes at Centre Bionest.
After Charles Bety put them up 1-0 midway through the first period, the Mooseheads paraded to the penalty box, with Sawyer Hannay and Martin Frk taking minors late in the first and Hannay making a return trip with a double-minor early in the second.
The Cataractes scored both their goals during that stretch, with Maximilien Le Sieur’s game winner coming at 4:57 of the second during the second part of the 18-year-old Hannay’s double-minor.
“Those penalties cost us the game,” Smith said. “They were (undisciplined). I wasn’t happy about it. Not only do you have to kill a penalty, you end up with offensive players sitting on the bench for a long time.”
Strangely enough, the Mooseheads’ penalty parade came on the same night they faced Garrett Clarke for the first time since trading him to the Cataractes last week. The 18-year-old defenceman parted ways with the Herd in part because a lack of on-ice discipline.
Clarke put zeros across the game sheet, although he would have assisted on a first-period goal that was waved off because of a high stick.
Mooseheads veteran goalie Mathieu Corbeil made 34 saves in what Smith described as an “excellent” showing, while Cataractes stopper Alex Dubeau was the No. 1 star with 26 saves.
“It was an excellent game for us — we had four lines rolling all game,” Smith said. “But they scored two goals (because of penalties) and took our momentum right out of the game.”
The Mooseheads, 9-19-1, are back in action tomorrow against the Val-d’Or Foreurs.
