SPECIAL TEAMS SINK SAINT JOHN

Station Nation Post-Game

SAINT JOHN- The Saint John Sea Dogs special teams have been anything but special. Victoriaville went 4/6 on the power play on route to a 5-2 win over the Sea Dogs at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs struggled offensively and defensively on the night, killing off only two penalty kills and scoring on only once on eight power play opportunities.

The Tigres opened the scoring at 16:19 when Newfoundland native Branden Hynes scored his fifth of the season. Assists went to Joel Chouinard and Tomas Kubalik. Hynes beat goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas with a quick one timer to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

Saint John tied the game at 19:03 when Nicholas Pard took a cross ice pass from Jonathan Huberdeau to tie the game. The line of Huberdeau, Pard, and Olivier Oullet had a strong game.

Just when it looked liked the Sea Dogs would go to the dressing room all tied at 1-1, Jonathan Bonneau managed to push the puck into the Saint John net in a mad scramble. The goal at 19:35 was assisted by Andrej Nestrasil. It was the Tigres second power play goal on the night.

Saint John led Victoriaville in shots 13-8 at the first intermission, an intermission that included an elderly man taking a t-shirt in the face from the 97.3 The Wave Extreme Team.

At 8:37 overage forward Alexandre Leduc took a hit from behind by Patrick Dore. A scrap ensued between Dore and Danick Gauthier.

Fans booed the officials as Saint John was not given a power play after the hit as Gauthier was given a game misconduct for "removal of equipment". Telegraph-Journal reporter Andrew McGilligan said on the News 88.9 post-game "I guess dropping your gloves counts as removal of equipment."

With it being match number 47 on the QMJHL schedule, it seemed appropriate that number 47 Simon Despres net his first of the season. Despres scored the goal of his career at 14:19 taking a pass from Gelinas beside the Sea Dogs net and skating coast-to-coast and deked several players, including Tigres netminder Kevin Poulin.

Poulin had a strong game in his first apperance of the season since returning from New York Islanders training camp. He stopped 25 shots in the win.

On the power play at 17:12, Olivier Hinse scored to give Tigres a 3-2 lead going into the third period.

All-star Andrej Nestrasil scored at 6:35 to open the third period scoring. The Red Wings prospect scored the the Tigres' third power play on the night.

In a last ditch effort to score a goal the Sea Dogs pulled Gelinas with Victoriaville on the power play with under two minutes left. PEI native Travis McIsaac stole the puck at the Saint John blue line and shot a floater into the empty cage.

"We have no excuses," said Sea Dogs forward Michael Kirkpatrick after the game on the Sea Dogs Twitter page. "We need to win more battles along the boards and get more shots on net."

The quote echoes what Karel St-Laurent said in Friday's Telegraph-Journal, stating the facts about the Sea Dogs mediocre defense in the past two games.

Saint John has now lost two straight games- both at home. They have been outscored 11-3.

Marc-Antoine Gelinas was very impressive and composed stopping 22 of 26 shots in the loss.

NOTES: The attendance was low for a Friday evening with only 2,987 coming out... Mike Thomas served the second game of a six game suspension... Mike Hoffman did not play and is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury. He made is season debut on Wednesday... Yann Sauve played one of the worst games of his career and somehow managed a second star honor. Sauve at one point completely wiped out while standing at the blue line... Simon Despres made his season debut after returning from Penguins training camp, scoring a candidate for goal of the year... After the amazing individual effort by Despres, PA announcer Peter McDevitt gave the goal to "#47 Nicholas Pard." He later corrected it with a sarcastic cheer from the crowd... Gerard Gallant called out his star players today in the Telegraph-Journal... In just four home games, Sea Dogs mascot Fleaburn has already surpassed Splash in terms of in game craziness.

NEXT GAME: 2009-10 Brunswick News Rivalry Cup-Game 1: Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs. Sunday, September 27, 2009, at 4:00 pm at Harbour Station. 97.3 The Wave will be on location from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at Harbour Station.