LE TITAN CAN'T HANDLE HOT DOGS

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Titan 1, Sea Dogs 5

SAINT JOHN – Make it a Saint John sweep.

With their 5-1 win over Bathurst on Wednesday night at Harbour Station, the Saint John Sea Dogs finished the season with a perfect 8-0-0-0 record against their northern New Brunswick rivals.

It was by no means a perfect game by the countries number one team. The Sea Dogs played for only half a game as they came out of the gates slow but picked up in time to take the game over in the second period.

Saint John scored five unanswered goals with three of them coming on the power play. Bathurst went 0/5 on their man advantage chances.

Scoring for the winners were Stanislav Galiev, Mike Hoffman, Nicholas Petersen, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Tomas Jurco. The Titan replied with a goal from David Gilbert in the first period.

By picking up their 45th win of the year, the Sea Dogs improve to 45-8-1-0. That gives them a team record 91 points with 14 games remaining until the post-season begins.

It was a rather dull start to the first period. Both teams exchange scoring chances until Jeremie Malouin got called for tripping at 1:48. On the power play, Saint John struggled to get any scoring chances and couldn’t open the scoring. Bathurst had a solid shorthanded during that span.

The Titan then had a good chance with play back at five-on-five. A player was parked at the top of the crease with Marco Cousineau out of position on the play. He could not handle the pass though and did not get a shot off.

Yann Sauve and his 97 mph slap shot went to the box at 8:23. Bryce Milson had a wide open net on the power play but missed the pass. Then Eric Faille had a good chance but Cousineau stood tall and deflected the puck over the net.

After the penalty expired, Mike Hoffman picked up a turnover in the Titan zone and wired a shot high and over the net.

Then the physical play heated up with rookie Pierre Durepos dumping Chicago prospect David Gilbert to the ice at the blue line. After Vincent Arseneau went to the dressing room after blocking a Gabriel Bourret shot, Mike Thomas laid a big hit on Faille in the Sea Dogs’ zone.

After it look like an icing call was coming against Bathurst, Saint John forgot about Jonathan Lessard behind the net. Lessard sent a nice pass to a streaking Gilbert in front and beat Cousineau blocker side to make it 1-0 Bathurst at 16:32.

Saint John picked up the pace after the goal as Hoffman was stopped in close by Francois Lacerte on a turnover. Then Danick Gauthier sent a shot just wide of the post to end the period.

Shots in the first frame were 10-6 Saint John.

Nicholas Petersen almost tied the affair early in the second when he hit the post. Then Stanislav Galiev followed that up with a shot that went off of Lacerte’s glove in the Titan crease.

After Jonathan Huberdeau was called for hooking at 2:08, Bathurst had some good pressure on the power play. Julien Tremblay had a good chance when he was left alone with a wide open net but the puck bounced over his stick.

After the Dogs killed off the penalty, Galiev had two good chances. The first came when he sent the puck high and wide of the goal and then another one stopped by Lacerte after some nice passing by Petersen and Hoffman. That caused a three-on-one for the Titan but they went offside at the line.

Gabriel Bourret went to the box at 7:19 for slashing. Bathurst once again had some good pressure on the power play with Faille having the best chance. The Titan’s leading scorer let a shot go that was stopped by the combination of Cousineau and Christian Morin in the crease.

Durepos sent Galiev in a partial break after the Titan were caught on a line change. The Russian sent the puck high and wide however.

The Sea Dogs finally tied the game at 14:00. Galiev had all the time in the world to wind up for a big shot at the point. He let one go that beat Lacerte glove side to make it a 1-1 game.

Right after the goal, Sauve was called for a hook. But at 14:45, Jeremie Blain took down Mike Thomas to make it four-on-four hockey. Petersen had a great chance after a nice deke at the red line to get around two defenders but couldn’t get a good shot off.

Former Screaming Eagle Olivier Malka was slapped with a double minor after high sticking Petersen behind the icing line. After some good chances and pressure by the Sea Dogs, Hoffman gave them the lead at 17:47. The overage Ottawa prospect let a blast go from just inside the line. The puck just squeaked through the five-hole of Lacerte to make it 2-1 Saint John.

At 19:23, Saint John extended their lead to 3-1. Hoffman one timed a shot off a pass from Michael Kirkpatrick from the blue line. The shot bounced to Petersen on the door step and beat Lacerte for his 34th marker of the season.

Shots in the middle stanza were 14-10 Sea Dogs.

Cousineau stopped Malouin in close to start a high pace third period. After Milson tripped up Simon Despres, the Sea Dogs issued Cousineau to the bench on the delayed call. Hoffman ripped a shot from the slot that was somehow gobbled up by the glove of Lacerte to keep Bathurst in the game.

On the power play, Kirkpatrick made it 4-1 Saint John at 8:14. The play was set up by Despres who walked down from the blue line to just above the icing line. He sent a cross crease pass to Kirkpatrick in front who slipped home his 24th of the year.

Following the goal, Saint John started to take over the game and had much better puck control than they did in the previous two periods.

After Zach Phillips went to the sin bin at 13:39, Nathan Beaulieu left the game and did not return when he block a Faille shot with his leg. On the same power play, Taylor Lambke was robbed by Cousineau which was followed by a sensational arm stop by the Sea Dogs goaltender.

Phillips was sprung on a breakway out of the box but was stopped by the blocker of Lacerte. The goal went under review and was ruled no goal as it was likely inconclusive that the puck crossed the line.

It didn’t matter to much though. At 16:26 Nicholas Pard did some nice to work to get through the Titan defense. He sat parked in the crease and fed Tomas Jurco who netted the easy goal to make it a 5-1 game.

After both teams exchanged chances in the final minute, the horn blew to signal the end of this one.

Shots in the third were 17-9 Saint John.

NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.

NEXT GAME: As the Winter Olympics begin so does a doubleheader against Cape Breton. The first game goes Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station.