STATION NATION POST-GAMESydney, N.S. - It was hotly debated that the Sea Dogs should have kept Alexandre Leduc as an overage player and release goaltender Marc-Antoine Gelinas. The doubters of Gelinas’ abilities were silenced Sunday afternoon as he and the Saint John Sea Dogs shutout the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 4-0 at Centre 200.
Gelinas stopped all 37 shots faced as the Sea Dogs stay tied with the Moncton Wildcats for first in the Atlantic division. Christopher Holden allowed all four goals on the first 10 shots of the game as the Eagles fell to 5-4-1-1 on the season.
Scoring for Saint John was Simon Despres, Stanislav Galiev, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Kevin Gagne. Tomas Jurco had two assists while Nicholas Petersen had five shots.
Saint John opened the scoring shorthanded with Gabriel Bourret in the box. Simon Despres went in on a one-on-one rush against an Eagles defender and backhanded a shot past the short side of Christopher Holden to make it 1-0.
Holden started the game because Cape Breton number one goalie Olivier Roy was with his family as his grandmother passed away earlier this week.
Stanislav Galiev made it 2-0 on the power play with Taylor MacDougall in the box for Cape Breton. Olivier Oullet’s original shot deflected right to Galiev who hammered home the bouncing puck at 6:07.
37 seconds later Jonathan Huberdeau chased Holden from the Eagles net. Huberdeau finished off a great passing display by his line mates Stephen McAuley and Tomas Jurco. The goal had the Sea Dogs fan bus members chanting “let’s go Sea Dogs let’s go!”
Holden was replaced by emergency backup Melvin Day of the Halifax Lions. He only had to make one save before Holden came back in goal at 7:34. Eagles head coach Mario Durocher’s message did not seem to work.
Simon Despres came fresh out of the penalty box at 9:34 and made a great pass to Steven Anthony but his stick chopped before he could get a shot off.
Myles Micallef took a stick in the face from his teammate Michael Stinziani. That caused a five on four rush for Saint John and Kevin Gagne took advantage. Gagne scored from a sharp angle to the left of Holden at 10:52. That made it 4-0.
Saint John outshot Cape Breton 18-8 after one period. But in the second it was all eagles.
Marc-Antoine Gelinas had to make 22 saves in the second period with many of them being for the highlight reel.
Stephen Horyl had a wide open cage but missed after Gelinas waited and waited for the puck to come into the trapezoid behind the net.
That was followed by an incredible cross crease pad save. This being only the second game Gelinas has worn his new equipment that he got earlier this week.
Saint John called a time out mid way through the second and seemed to calm down the Sea Dogs' forwards and defensemen.
The third period was no different. Gelinas made some great saves as the Sea Dogs were out shot 7-6. Saint John then cruised to a 4-0 victory over the explosive Eagles offense.
Saint John improves to 8-3-1-0 on the season. Gelinas improves his record to 5-2-0.
NOTES: This was Marc-Antoine Gelinas’ third straight start and could get the start Tuesday in PEI as well… the attendance was 3,221… Mike Thomas made his return to the Sea Dogs line-up after serving a six game suspension. He had no points, was a zero rating, no shots, and won one faceoff… Saint John didn’t allow any power play goals on nine chances – a positive. The negative, they took nine penalties… this was the first time in four games that Nicholas Petersen had no goals or points… it’s unlikely – but possible that Mike Hoffman will return to the line-up on Tuesday in Charlottetown… Kevin Gagne continues to set career highs and was a plus three today.
DID YOU KNOW…
The only other Saint John road shutout in franchise history came in Cape Breton? Jason Churchill got the win in a 2-0 shutout on October 30, 2005.
NEXT GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs PEI Rocket on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 7:00 pm at Charlottetown Civic Centre.
Saint John called a time out mid way through the second and seemed to calm down the Sea Dogs' forwards and defensemen.
The third period was no different. Gelinas made some great saves as the Sea Dogs were out shot 7-6. Saint John then cruised to a 4-0 victory over the explosive Eagles offense.
Saint John improves to 8-3-1-0 on the season. Gelinas improves his record to 5-2-0.
NOTES: This was Marc-Antoine Gelinas’ third straight start and could get the start Tuesday in PEI as well… the attendance was 3,221… Mike Thomas made his return to the Sea Dogs line-up after serving a six game suspension. He had no points, was a zero rating, no shots, and won one faceoff… Saint John didn’t allow any power play goals on nine chances – a positive. The negative, they took nine penalties… this was the first time in four games that Nicholas Petersen had no goals or points… it’s unlikely – but possible that Mike Hoffman will return to the line-up on Tuesday in Charlottetown… Kevin Gagne continues to set career highs and was a plus three today.
DID YOU KNOW…
The only other Saint John road shutout in franchise history came in Cape Breton? Jason Churchill got the win in a 2-0 shutout on October 30, 2005.
NEXT GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs PEI Rocket on Tuesday, October 13, 2009 at 7:00 pm at Charlottetown Civic Centre.
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