The evidence continues to build that the Maritimes Division will be the toughest in the QMJHL this year.
The Halifax Mooseheads and Moncton Wildcats went at each other hard at the Scotiabank Centre on Friday and didn't settle anything until an overtime goal from Alexander Khovanov sealed a 5-4 win for the visting team. It was his second goal of the game.
"We got down 2-0 early but we battled back," said Halifax forward Jeff Burridge. "We just came up short at the end, which sucks, but it was a decent game for us overall.
"Every team we play, we have to be ready to come out and play hard. There are no easy games. Every team is good and we just have to come out and perform."
The display was another reminder there could be as many as four title contenders from the division. The whole game was a series of ties and lead changes but never more than a two-goal advantage for either side.
"We had a little bit of a slow start but ... then I felt in the second and third the boys were playing pretty well," said Halifax defenceman Cameron Whynot. "It was a close one and it's not great to lose but I thought we played pretty well."
"There was definitely some intensity out there," he added. "We see them a lot more than some other teams so there's definitely a rivalry there. But it was a tough finish tonight and hopefully we can bounce back tomorrow."
After the Wildcats went ahead 2-0 by the early part of the second period, the Mooseheads chipped away before the intermission to make it a tie game after 40 minutes. The teams traded goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period to make it 3-3 and then again in the dying minutes to square it at 4-4.
Kohvanov finally ended it when he tapped in a perfect feed from Jakob Pelletier with 1:07 left in overtime.
"It was an emotional roller coaster," Burridge said. "We were happy with how we battled back after getting down two and then we took the lead late but couldn't (keep it). It was just a tough game overall."
Maxim Trepanier, with two, Sam Dube and Whynot had the goals for the Mooseheads and Bo Groulx and Raphael Lavoie each had two assists. Kyle Foreman, Ozzie King and Elliot Desnoyers also scored for the Wildcats. Whynot's goal was the first of his QMJHL career and Dube's was his first of the season.
"It felt amazing to get that off my back," Whynot said. "I'd been waiting for it for a while now but it was definitely good to get that first one. But the biggest thing tonight is they came out of here with two points and we only came away with one."
Charles-Antoine Lavallee made 37 saves for Moncton and Alexis Gravel stopped 34 shots for Halifax.
The result makes the Mooseheads 7-6-1-0 and the Wildcats go to 11-3-0-0. The loss was the Mooseheads' third in a row.
"We still got a point," Burridge said. "We would've liked two but we've just got to bounce back in our next one, get two points and then hopefully go to our next one against Cape Breton and play well."
The Mooseheads' face the Sea Dogs on the road on Saturday.
"We know we've got to bring it tomorrow and hopefully get in the win column, then go from there," Burridge said.
Notes: Jared McIsaac (shoulder), Cole Foston (knee), Said Abi-Faycal (healthy scratch) and Brendan Tomilson (healthy scratch) did not play for Halifax.
Wildcats top Mooseheads 5-4 in OT
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