The Halifax Mooseheads have their first winning streak of the season and they owe a big thank you to Mathieu Corbeil.

The 18-year-old was the first star for the second straight night, putting the finishing touches on one of the best weekends of goaltending the Mooseheads have seen in ages as the Herd dumped the P.E.I. Rocket 4-1 before a crowd of 5,801 at the Metro Centre.

It marked the Mooseheads’ first back-to-back wins since Feb. 2 and 6. They also won on Friday, beating Val-d’Or 6-1.
 
“Corbeil made some miraculous saves,” said Mooseheads forward Gabriel Desjardins. “He’s been mentally prepared for every game, he’s not talking to anyone, he’s in his bubble. He’s getting focused.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a goalie get two first stars (in a row) since I’ve been here so it’s a pretty good weekend for him.”

Rookie Brent Andrews finally scored his first career goal in his 22nd game, racing down the right wing and firing a shot past Marco Cousineau just 61 seconds in. Charles Bety also scored in the first and Tomas Knotek and Desjardins added tallies in the third.

Corbeil was outstanding all game, keeping out a handful of odd-man rushes and goal-mouth scrambles in a 31-save outing, but secured his first-star status in the third. His best stop came on Lower Sackville’s Ben Duffy, who had enough time to check his 50-50 ticket before deking, only to be denied by Corbeil’s diving paddle. Corbeil also stopped Maple Leafs draftee Joel Champagne on a breakaway moments before Knotek’s goal and had the Rocket looking skyward for answers.

The only blemish came with just 31 seconds to go, when Jordan Escott’s goal broke his bid for his first career shutout.

“The win is what mattered,” said Corbeil, who stopped 63 of 65 shots in two games. “If we can score four or more goals every game, I think we’re going to win a lot of games this season. They played really good (in front of me) but I tried to keep them in there and I did that.”

The Mooseheads didn’t take a period off all weekend, getting persistent work ethic from all four lines and all three defence pairings. Most importantly, the top line of Knotek, Travis Randell and Gerrad Grant was barely needed, combining for just two of the 10 goals scored on the weekend. Last night’s support scorers -- Andrews, Bety and Desjardins -- combined for just four goals coming in.

The Mooseheads are only two games into a five-game homestand, with the Shawinigan Cataractes up next on Tuesday.

Now the Boston fans know what Moose fans had to put up with last year, lots of luck to them, I doubt he stays up with the big club

By ratcat0072

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By ratcat0072

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