The margin for error is razor-thin these days for the Halifax Mooseheads.
They can't roll out a full forward line of stars or back-to-back pairings of veteran defencemen anymore because most of those players have been traded as part of a rebuild. So when a team like the Charlottetown Islanders plays its usual solid defence and scores a handful of timely goals, the challenge becomes that much more difficult.
Sunday's 7-2 win by the Islanders at the Scotiabank Centre showed just how unforgiving the line is between victory and defeat for a young team that continues to play hard and smart.
"A team like Charlottetown is really aggressive so every little mistake they're going to make you pay for it," Halifax forward Kevin Gursoy said.
"For us, it was just limiting those mistakes and, unfortunately, we made too many."
The Islanders put themselves in control with a first-period goal and two more during a 35-second span in the second period to give them a 3-0 lead. The Mooseheads got two back to make it 3-2 in the third period but the Islanders pulled away with four unanswered goals.
"We were down one going into the third, then we got one early and it felt like we had the momentum," Halifax defenceman Cameron Whynot said. "We just had some breakdowns and they capitalized on our mistakes. Moving forward, we just have to (do a better job) keeping it close."
It is the Mooseheads' eighth loss in their past nine games, but despite those results, it can't be said they don't try. This team always gives a good effort and does well to keep pushing even when stronger opponents build leads.
"It's definitely a good group, a lot of hard-working guys," Whynot said. "We might not have the skill we did before but I think we played hard and we're starting to gel well together. I think if you give us a bit of time we'll be a dangerous team."
Cole Edwards and Brett Budgell each scored two for the Islanders and Gaetan Jobin, Zachary Beauregard and Max-Antoine Melancon had one. Gursoy and Kyle Petten scored for the Mooseheads.
Jacob Goobie stopped 20 shots for Charlottetown and Cole McLaren made 30 saves for Halifax.
"The shots were pretty even until later in the game," Gursoy said. "There were a few errors on our part that fuelled the collapse and that was just part of the problem. We were tight with it most of the game but then we kind of tailed off. Next time we'll get a full 60 minutes out of us."
It was Gursoy's first game against the Islanders since they traded him to Halifax two weeks ago.
"It was a little different but it's exciting at the same time," Gursoy said. "It was the same as when I got traded to Charlottetown and I had to play against Saint John. You've got a lot of buddies on the other side and it's fun playing against them. You get to chirp each other a bit and have some fun banter but it was a tough result tonight."
"It was good to score against the old team," Gursoy added. "It gives a little bit of bragging rights off the ice but I guess they got the ultimate one so we'll just have to get them next time."
The Mooseheads will now go on a three-game road trip to Quebec, starting on Friday against the Victoriaville Tigres.
"Those are three games we want to win," Wynot said. "If you look at the standings, Victo and Gatineau are real close to us and we want to be in the playoffs so those are two real important games we need to win."
Justin Barron, Gavin Hart, Keegan Hunt and Sonny Kabatay did not play for Halifax.
