Imama and Joseph to play NHL pre-season game tonight

Two members of the Saint John Sea Dogs will be in the Tampa Bay Lightning's lineup tonight.

Forwards Mathieu Joseph and Bokondji Imama are both expected to play when the Lightning take on the Carolina Hurricanes in NHL pre-season play.

Very happy to play my first NHL pre-season game tomorrow with the one and only @MathJoseph7

— Boko Imama (@bokojr) September 26, 2016

Pumped to be able to play my first NHL pre-season game tomorrow with this guy #Brother pic.twitter.com/4bfmUDB1h3

— Mathieu Joseph (@MathJoseph7) September 26, 2016

Meanwhile, Thomas Chabot's Ottawa Senators are in Buffalo this evening. But, a night after scoring in Ottawa's 6-3 win over Toronto in Halifax, Chabot is not expected to play. Former Sea Dog Mike Hoffman will be in the lineup, though.

Imama, Joseph, Chabot, Jakub Zboril (Boston Bruins) and Luke Green (Winnipeg Jets) are the remaining Sea Dogs at NHL camps.

Green's Jets are in action tonight but the Sea Dogs defenseman is not listed in the team's lineup.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

Flyers return Dove-McFalls to Sea Dogs

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After appearing in a NHL pre-season game last night in Brooklyn, forward Samuel Dove-McFalls has been sent back to Saint John by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Dove-McFalls was one of several players sent back to the CHL by the Flyers this afternoon. Pascal Laberge of the Victoriaville Tigres was also sent back.

In last night's pre-season game that the Flyers lost 3-0, Dove-McFalls had three shots, two hits and one block in 11:08 of ice time. The 19-year-old had a tough time in the faceoff circle, winning just 18% of his draws.

#Flyers lines vs. NYI:

Carey-Weal-Laberge
Goulbourne-Cousins-Conner
Twarynski-Fazleev-McDonald
Sundher-Dove McFalls-Swavely

— Tony Androckitis (@TonyAndrock) September 26, 2016

Dove-McFalls was a fourth-round pick of the Flyers in the 2015 NHL Draft.

The Montreal native will enter his fourth season with the Sea Dogs. In an injury-shortened 2015-16 campaign, Dove-McFalls had five goals and seven assists in 29 regular season games. He added six goals and an assist in 17 playoff matches.

The Sea Dogs, 0-2-0-0, look as though they will have quite a few regulars in the lineup for Friday's home opener. Along with Dove-McFalls, Spencer Smallman (Carolina Hurricanes) and Nathan Noel (Chicago Blackhawks) have been sent back to Saint John.

Several Sea Dogs to play NHL pre-season games tonight

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Several Sea Dogs will take part in NHL pre-season action tonight.

In Halifax, Sea Dogs defenceman Thomas Chabot is expected to be the Ottawa Senators lineup when they face off against the Ottawa Senators. That game is on TSN4 and TSN5.

@rayferrarotsn and I are in Halifax for the Leafs/Senators pre-season game at 7pm at/6pm et. @Marner93 and @ThomasChabot1 in the lineup.

— Gord Miller (@GMillerTSN) September 26, 2016

The Senators website had a story on Chabot the other day.

In Boston, Jakub Zboril is expected to be in the Bruins lineup when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Samuel Dove-McFalls will be in the Philadelphia Flyers lineup tonight when they take on the New York Islanders in Brooklyn.

First NHL pre season game tomorrow in Brooklyn #Flyers #FiredUp

— Sam Dove-McFalls (@Sam15D_M) September 26, 2016

Meanwhile, former Sea Dogs forward Stanislav Galiev will be in the Washington Capitals lineup tonight when they take on the Carolina Hurricanes.

Yesterday, Spencer Smallman (Carolina) and Nathan Noel (Chicago) were assigned back to Saint John. Chabot, Zboril, Dove-McFalls, Luke Green (Winnipeg Jets), Mathieu Joseph (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Bokondji Imama (Tampa Bay Lightning) remain at NHL camps.

The Jets and Lightning are action tomorrow night.

Smallman, Noel returned to Saint John

The Saint John Sea Dogs are getting some much-needed reinforcements.

The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that they have assigned Spencer Smallman back to Saint John. Meanwhile, according to his Instagram, Nathan Noel is on his way back from Chicago Blackhawks camp.

Had a blast in Chicago now time to get things going with the @sjseadogs #portcityrise

A photo posted by Nathan Noel (@nathan_noel10) on Sep 25, 2016 at 1:53pm PDT

Smallman, the Sea Dogs’ captain, was a fifth-round pick of the Hurricanes in 2015. The 20-year-old had 19 goals and 28 assists in 59 regular season games last year. He added three goals and 16 assists in 17 playoff contests.

Noel, a fourth-round pick of Chicago in this year’s NHL Draft, had 21 goals and 36 assists in 61 games with the Dogs last season. He had another three goals and 10 assists in 16 playoff matches.

The two will be welcomed additions to a Sea Dogs team that was forced to start the regular season without several regulars due to NHL camps. At the moment, Saint John is still without Samuel Dove-McFalls (Philadelphia Flyers), Luke Green (Winnipeg Jets), Mathieu Joseph (Tampa Bay Lightning), Bokondji Imama (Tampa Bay Lightning), Thomas Chabot (Ottawa Senators) and Jakub Zboril (Boston Bruins).

Bailey Webster (Boston Bruins) and Oliver Felixson (Arizona Coyotes) had already returned from camp and played this past weekend. Matthew Highmore was invited to Florida Panthers rookie camp but could not attend due to injury.

Saint John’s next game is on Friday at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation

RECAP: Sea Dogs lose 4-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Halifax 4

By Kevin Chambers | SN Staff

HALIFAX – The Saint John Sea Dogs did not make any changes to their lineup for Saturday’s contest in Halifax. Despite a hard fought effort, the Sea Dogs came up just short, dropping a 4-3 decision to the Mooseheads.

Benoit-Olivier Groulx picked up two goals while singles came from Cooper Jones and Arnaud Durandeau. Kevin Resop stopped 33 of the 36 shots he faced.

Sea Dogs goals came from Scorin’ John Warren, Gabriel Bettez and temporary captain Matthew Highmore. Alex Bishop kicked aside 23 of the 27 shots he faced.

The notes…

• The Mooseheads held a moment of silence in memory of former Moosehead Dean Stock.
• Jones scored the first goal of the game just 53 seconds in - despite a couple big saves by Bishop in the sequence.
• A couple of first career QMJHL goals followed with John Warren picking up his first at 12:51 and, just 19 seconds later, Gabriel Bettez picked up his first as well.
• Groulx, the first overall pick in the 2016 QMJHL Entry Draft, picked up his first career QMJHL goal to even the game at 2-2 before the end of the period.
• Penalties played a huge role in the opening period, which included a combined total of 16 minors and four misconducts.
• Durandeau picked up the lone goal of the second period - despite the Sea Dogs outshooting the Moose 19-6 - at 11:33 on a wraparound that rode up and over Bishop. 
• Groulx would add his second goal of the game at 13:53 of the third period, which would end up being the game-winning goal.
• Highmore did add a third goal for the Sea Dogs.
• Highmore also wore the “C” again tonight while Bailey Webster was the alternate.
• Then final shots in the game were 36-27 in favour of the Dogs. They are certainly getting shots to the net.
• The Sea Dogs introduced a new promotion with Papa John’s. Because they scored three goals, everyone gets 40% off pizzas online at Papajohns.com using promo code SEADOGS40.

Game Day 2: at Halifax

After dropping their season opener last night, the Saint John Sea Dogs (0-1-0-0) will look to pick up their first win of the season tonight in Halifax against the Mooseheads (0-1-0-0). Game time is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 6-2 loss in Charlottetown last night. Matthew Highmore and Samuel Leblanc scored for Saint John. Alex Bishop made 19 saves in the loss. The Mooseheads are coming off a 4-3 loss in Moncton last night. Maxime Fortier scored twice for the Moose while Arnaud Durandeau added a solo marker. Kevin Resop made 29 stops in the loss.

2015-16 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 6-2-0-0 against the Mooseheads last season while Halifax went 2-5-1-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Aug. 19 in Moncton where the Mooseheads edged the Sea Dogs 4-1 in pre-season rookie tournament play. Jared McIsaac, Ilya Putintsev, Ben Higgins and Raphael Lavoie all scored for Halifax while Cedric Pare netted Saint John’s only goal. Alex Gravel made 13 saves and Kirklin Allen two in the win. Alex D’Orio made 42 stops in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Mooseheads: None

Random stat: Mooseheads goaltender Kevin Resop went 0-2 with a 4.53 GAA and .864 SV% in two games against Saint John last season.