Halifax Mooseheads rookie goalie Mathieu Corbeil was thrown right into the fire after a three-week layoff.
Corbeil, making his first start since Jan. 4 after breaking the index finger on his catching hand in a practice, faced a barrage of 49 shots and was the third star in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles in Sydney.
It was a season-high for shots allowed as Halifax (13-30-5) fell to 0-for-7 in the eight-game season series.
“Cape Breton is a team that always has a lot of shots — they throw everything at the net and they’re good at getting to rebounds,” Mooseheads head coach Cam Russell said. “Corbeil played very well, especially considering the layoff.”
Mooseheads defenceman Gabriel O’Connor took a minor penalty with 15 seconds left in regulation and that resulted in Nicolas Chouinard’s power-play winner just 53 seconds into extra time.
Discipline was also the Mooseheads’ downfall in a 5-2 home loss to the Quebec Remparts on Friday.
“It was a bad penalty,” Russell said, of O’Connor’s minor.
“You’re in a tied hockey game, you’ve got to play hard and you’ve got to play smart. It’s not the time to take penalties.”
Charles Bety was the first star, scoring both of Halifax’s goals.
Russell made some bold lineup changes, breaking up the so-called Euro Line and moving leading scorer Yuri Cheremetiev to what can fairly be described as the fourth line.
He also promoted 18-year-old Ned O’Brien, who was one of Halifax’s top players in Friday’s loss.
“If guys are going to compete and work hard, we’re going to give them the (ice time) they deserve,” Russell said.
Defenceman Justin Pender (abdominal strain) and forward Eric Louis-Seize (shoulder) missed both games.
