STATION NATION POST-GAMEFINAL: MAINEiacs 3, Sea Dogs 8
SAINT JOHN – Sidney Crosby has a lot of things in his trophy case. Likely in a scrapbook somewhere is a newspaper article stating that his 2004-05 Rimouski Oceanic are owners of the third longest winning streak in QMJHL history – not any more. With the Sea Dogs 8-3 win today over the Lewiston Maineiacs, Saint John is now third all-time in consecutive victories with 20.
In front of a dismal Sunday crowd of 3,316 at Harbour Station, the Sea Dogs used their magical offensive skills to light up the Maineiacs who are losers now of 13 straight games.
Scoring for the Dogs were Nicholas Petersen, Michael Kirkpatrick (2), Jonathan Huberdeau, Nicholas Pard, Danick Gauthier, Mike Hoffman, and Tomas Jurco, Replying for the visitors from the USA were Jean-Francois Plante, Billy Lecasse, and Etienne Brodeur.
The Sea Dogs dominated Lewiston in the first period and took advantage of an ice cold Maineiacs team.
Tomas Jurco made it 1-0 early at 4:43. A Zach Phillips point shot hit the chest of Lewiston starter Jordan Kennedy and couldn’t hold on to the rebound. Jurco pounced on it to score his seventh of the season.
Just over minute later the Maineiacs tied the affair on a strange one. An air mail pass was missed by Yann Sauve and went to Eric Gelinas who broke in and scored from an impossible angle to tie it a 1-1. Marc-Antoine Gelinas was caught off guard and was a bit low on the shot.
But Saint John took the lead back shortly after at 7:09. Michael Kirkpatrick’s point shot went wide and lay behind the goal. Kirkpatrick went around the net to pick up the puck and backhanded a shot blocker side to make it 2-1. The goal caused Don MacAdam to take out Kennedy in exchange for the veteran Adrien Lemay.
Alexis Piette took a tripping penalty at 11:04 giving Saint John a power play opportunity. Mike Hoffman’s wrist shot caused a mad scramble in the crease and found its way out to wide open Kirkpatrick who shot the puck into the open cage to make 3-1.
Former Maineiac draft pick Zach Phillips had a good chance to score on the open side but was denied by the right leg of Lemay.
Mike Hoffman made it 4-1 Saint John at 17:20. The overage forward took a beautiful cross ice pass from his line mate Nicholas Petersen to open up a three goal lead heading into the intermission.
Saint John outshot Lewiston 15-9 in the first frame.
Mike Thomas almost made 5-1 after taking a pass from Kirkpatrick but ringed it off the right post just a few minutes into the second period.
At 7:31 Francis Beauvillier broke down the right side and wristed a shot in on Gelinas. The rebound lay in the crease for Jean-Francois Plante who tossed into the net to make 4-2.
Shortly after that Eric Gelinas belted a shot from the point that drilled Kevin Gagne and couldn’t even stand up. Saint John cleared it out of their zone but on the ensuing rush, with Gagne still down, Billy Lacasse broke through the middle and potted a goal to make 4-3.
It looked as though Lewiston had tied the game half way through the second on a mad scramble in the crease. The puck found its way by Gelinas somehow but the official immediately waved it off saying that the whistle had blown.
With 21 seconds remaining in the period, Hoffman won a face-off clean in the Lewiston zone. Petersen got the puck and walked in and around Lemay to beat him upstairs to give Saint John some breathing room.
Lewiston actually outshot Saint John 16-13 in the middle stanza.
Pierre-Olivier Morin’s minor penalty carried over to the third period and the Dogs made them pay. Hoffman made a nice play to keep it in at the line and wristed a shot on goal. The rebound went right to Nicholas Pard who netted his eighth at 1:34. The goal is Pard’s third in his last two games.
At 6:17 Stephen MacAulay gave a pass from behind the net to Danick Gauthier who was just inside the line. With Thomas providing the traffic, Gauthier fired a shot that hit something and deflected by Lemay to make 7-3.
Jurco swept the puck off the stick off a Maineiac defenseman’s stick and caused a good scoring chance with Jonathan Huberdeau.
Then Phillips and Jurco went in on a two-on-one but the Slovakian shot the puck just wide of the net. The disk found its way in front somehow and allowed Jonathan Huberdeau to score on a stunned Lemay to make 8-3 Sea Dogs.
Samuel Carrier and Phillips got into it a bit near the end of the period. Carrier had his stick up and shoved Phillips but high sticked an official in the face. He would be okay to continue.
Jurco fed an unbelievable pass to Huberdeau but was denied by Lemay. The import rookie gave a between the legs no look pass right in front for what could have been the play of the year.
Shots in the third period were 22-11 Sea Dogs. Lewiston was outshot in the game 50-36.
Gelinas picked up the win and improved to 19-3-0 on the year. Saint John was 3/5 on the power play.
Lemay picked up the loss and fell to 10-17-0 on the year. Lewiston went 1/7 on the man advantage.
NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.
NEXT GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs PEI Rocket. Friday, December 11, 2009 at 7:00 pm at Charlottetown Civic Centre.
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