![]() |
Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
SAINT JOHN - A 51-save performance from Patrick Leaver wasn't quite enough as the Saint John Sea Dogs fell 4-3 in a shootout to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday at TD Station.
Leaver kept the Sea Dogs in the game at times as Bathurst heavily outshot Saint John for much of the night. Shots ended 54-26 in favour of the Titan which included 18-7 and 24-9 shot advantages in the first and second periods, respectively.
Despite the lopsided shot total, the Sea Dogs very well could have won this game. Saint John was able to take advantage of some of their quality scoring chances but the puck simply didn't roll their way on quite a few others.
Milos Roelens, Donovan Arsenault and Louis-Francois Belanger scored for Bathurst. Josh Fleming made 23 saves in the win.
Nate Tivey, Pavel Simek and Vince Elie scored for Saint John.
The Titan were pressing late in the first period and were finally rewarded at 14:53 when Roelens scored to put the visitors up 1-0.
Tivey got Saint John on the board at 4:49 of the second period. The defenseman crossed the blue line, accepted the puck from Eriks Mateiko and wired a hard wrist shot under the crossbar and in to make it a 1-1 game.
Arsenault quickly put Bathurst back in front at 6:42. Joseph Henneberry was along the backboards and fed Arsenault in the circle who beat Leaver with a quick one-time shot.