It isn't far enough along in the season to call Thursday's game at the Scotiabank Centre a 'must win' but it was just about as close as you can get.
The Halifax Mooseheads and Gatineau Olympiques went into the night separated by just two points in the bottom four of the QMJHL overall standings. Only two teams in the league miss the playoffs so gaining any ground in that race is critical at this point in the year, especially in head-to-head meetings.
Both teams laid it on the line in a tight push-and-pull and it was the Mooseheads who came out on top 4-3 in overtime to increase their lead over the Olympiques to three points.
"Before the game (head coach J.J. Daigneault) said we have to treat this like a playoff game so we knew how important it was with them so close to us in the standings," said Halifax forward Landon Miron. "It feels great to get that win. It was a big two points and it took a big team effort to get it."
Gatineau's Zach Dean scored the only goal of the first period and Halifax's Alexandre David matched him in the second. The teams traded goals all through the third period before Cameron Whynot settled it with 39.9 seconds left in overtime.
"It was just kind of a broken play on the wall and I saw the puck squirt loose and I found myself behind their d-man," Whynot said. "I just took it to the net and went far side. Luckily it found the back of the net.
"I kind of went blank in the (moment). I don't even remember everything I did, just that the puck went in the net. It definitely feels good to get those two points."
Although the two teams are flirting with the Q basement, the Olympiques are actually one of the hottest teams in the league right now. They were 9-1 in their previous 10 games leading up to the meeting with the Mooseheads, which is how they made themselves relevant again in the playoff race after a dismal first half of the season. They are now 16-25-4-0, while the Mooseheads' record improves to 18-23-2-1.
"We were in a bit of a drought there," said Miron, who had an assist on David's goal. "We only got one win on our trip to Quebec last week so this is a big confidence builder.
"They're a good team. They play fast and we just had to keep pace and work our asses off."
Gevin Gursoy had the Mooseheads' two third-period goals and Mathieu Bizier and Evan MacKinnon were the Olympiques' other scorers. Alexis Gravel made 35 saves for Halifax and Remi Poirier stopped 20 shots for Gatineau.
"They're a very good team," Whynot said. "It was a tough two points. They're playing great hockey right now so it was great to get those points and get some separation between us."
The Mooseheads' next game is on the road on Saturday against the Moncton Wildcats.
"We want to make the playoffs because you never know what playoff hockey can bring," Whynot said. "We just want to get into the first round and see what happens from there."
Justin Barron, Samuel Dube, Said Abi-Faycal and Keegan Hunt did not play for Halifax.
Eagles 7, Armada 5: In Sydney, Egor Sokolov scored four goals to give him a league-leading 35 on the season.
Liam Kidney, Shawn Element and Tyler Hinam also scored for Cape Breton and Maxim Bykov, Yaroslav Likhachev, Benjamin Corbeil, Nathan Lavoie and Zachary Roy had Blainville-Boisbriand goals.
Kevin Mandolese turned aside 28 shots for the Eagles and Emile Samson and Olivier Adam combined to make 41 saves for the Armada. The two points move the Eagles (27-14-2-1) into a tie with the Rimouski Oceanic for fourth place overall.
