The Embrun Panthers travelled to the J. R. Brisson Complex in Casselman on Thurs., Feb. 21, to take on Vikings in the CCHL2. The Panthers’ forwards Connor Drost (44) and Brandon Paquette celebrate after scoring their second goal of the game. Drost scored the goal and Paquette assisted but it wasn’t enough as the Vikings took the game 6-2. Moore photo
COBDEN—The Embrun Panthers closed out their regular season with a pair of weekend games as they travelled to Casselman on Thursday night to take on the Vikings and then to Cobden on Friday night to take on the Whitewater Kings.
Kings 5 Panthers 4 (OT)
The Embrun Panthers travelled to the Astrolabe Arena in Cobden to take on the Whitewater Kings on Fri., Feb. 22, for their last game of the season in the CCHL2. The Panthers were coming off a 6-2 loss in their previous game against the Casselman Vikings and looked to close out the regular season with a victory.
The two teams battled to a scoreless first period with the Panthers outshooting the Kings 10-7. The Panthers opened the scoring just 35 seconds into the second period as Marc Brosseau scored his 16th of the season from Jacob Lamont taking a 1-0 lead. The Kings tied the game at 8:35 but the Panthers retook the lead when Connor Frost scored his 13th of the season from Matthieu Brennan and Cayden Martin at 11:04 on the power play. The Kings tied the game again at 13:43 on the power play but the Panthers restored a one-goal lead when Philippe Planet scored his seventh of the season from Aidan Whynot and Alex Rossides at 17:31. The Panthers took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
The Kings tied the game again at 5:31 of the third period and took their first lead of the game at 16:43. The Panthers pulled their goalie in favour of an extra attacker with just over a minute remaining; it paid off as Brosseau scored his second of the game and 17th of the season from Brandon Paquette and Drost, tying the game at four.
Neither team was able to score before the final buzzer, so the game headed to a five-minute three-on-three overtime frame. In the extra period, the Kings ruined the Panthers attempt to win their final game of the season scoring 1:31 into overtime taking the game 5-4.
The Panthers outshot the Kings 34-33. With the loss, the Panthers end their season with 13 wins, 24 losses, six overtime losses and one shootout loss for 33 points finishing second last in the league. Suffering the loss in the Panthers’ goal was Cody MacEachern making 28 saves on 33 shots.
