SEA DOGS POST-GAME NOTEBOOK

SEA DOGS –SCREAMING EAGLES GAME AT A GLANCE
Final Score/SO: Saint John 3, Cape Breton 4
Saint John Goals: Mike Hoffman (46), Michael Kirkpatrick (29), and Nathan Beaulieu (12).
Cape Breton Goals: Luke Adam (46), Maxime Leagault (15, 16)
Winning Goaltender: CAP – Olivier Roy (31-21-0)
Losing Goaltender: SNB – Karel St. Laurent (17-5-0)

THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Screaming Eagles: 2/7, Sea Dogs: 0/4
Shots on Goal: Screaming Eagles: 7+15+12+4=38, Sea Dogs: 11+10+7+1=29
Attendance: 4,135

SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Mike Thomas served the first game of a five game suspension he received after hitting Alex Wall of the Moncton Wildcats on Friday night. Yann Sauve missed his second straight game due to a death in his family. He is expected back in time for Friday’s game in Charlottetown.

Aiden Kelly and Gabriel Bourret were inserted into the lineup.

THIRD PERIOD LET DOWN
For the second time in three games, the Saint John Sea Dogs blew a two-goal lead. The first came Friday in the first period against Moncton with the second taking place last night. Leading 3-1 early in the third, the Sea Dogs blew it and were shut down by the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

"They put a lot of pressure on us,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "They battled hard and forechecked really hard and finished their checks. It was a lot like the last time we played them in Saint John.''

The Eagles took over in the third period because they finally stuck to their original game plan: play physical.

“They have a lot of talent, that’s probably the most talented team in the league, so we need to hit them, it’s pretty simple,” said Cape Breton head coach Mario Durocher to the Cape Breton Post on Wednesday. “Everybody’s scared to play against us because we’re big, but when we play like kiddies, everybody’s happy — hey, they’re sleeping tonight.

“We need to be physical. We need to use our speed, good transition, a good defensive game and play as a team. Transition is important. “

Cape Breton outhit Saint John 19-17 in the game.

LEGAULT HAS THE GAME OF HIS LIFE
Maxime Legault could have had four goals in this game. He only had two instead, but had seven shots on goal with all seven listed as “dangerous” by the league.

Legault got the Eagles back in the game in the third and eventually tied the game at 3-3 at 17:55. Both goals were identical, with a point shot rebounding to the side of the goal where the Sabers prospect stood. He also had a chance for the hat trick earlier on when he was stopped on a penalty shot by Karel St. Laurent.

“It was two, we call that garbage goals a bit,” said Legault to the Cape Breton Post. “Just getting a rebound and I was in the right spot. In the first, I missed a couple of chances like that. The puck was not bouncing my way, but I’m really happy with the way the guys reacted in the second, in the third and the shootout was pretty nice.”

He was named first star for his efforts.

WHAT A DISASTER
Years from now, when fans look at the standings from this season, they’ll see that Saint John lost two games in a shootout in their final 10 games. After going 9-0 in the breakaway contest this year, the Sea Dogs have dropped two in their last three games. Once again, goaltending was an issue.

Karel St. Laurent allowed all three goals in the post-overtime event. St. Laurent, who is always talking about how much he loves the shootout, allowed two goals that could have been stopped.

“At least once a week in practice, we do shootouts,” said Logan Shaw who scored the winner in the third round. “The move I do, I just go down the right side and come across and see what’s open, there’s lots of options from there. I was a little nervous because it was my first one in this league.

Mike Hoffman missed on his usual "Peter Forsberg move" as Olivier Roy had to of known it was coming because he played it beautifully. Tomas Jurco scored the greatest ever goal ever seen, and Jonathan Huberdeau scored what we are calling “The Hubo.”

WHOA
Tomas Jurco, the Slovakian rookie, scored one the greatest shootout goals ever seen in a Canadian Hockey League game last night.

First of all, we don’t get offended by much here, but we feel the Cape Breton color man went too far by saying “he had to be European to even try that.”

Jurco came down the opposite wing and cut in front. He dropped off the puck in the crease and skated in front to fool Olivier Roy. Jurco then did a 360 degree spin and went to the forehand and simply slid in the puck by a confused Roy. Centre 200 was shocked, Tim Roszell almost collapsed, and Mario Durocher flipped out on the Eagles bench.

Durocher and the officials had a lengthy discussion on if the move was still going in a forward direction, which is required in a shootout. It was declared a goal, mostly because nobody could believe what they just saw.

The play can be seen at 5:56 of the highlight video below.

TIME TO PAY UP
Due to a Sea Dogs shootout loss, Station Nation now owes T.J. Colello of the Cape Breton Post a seal flipper pie as part of a friendly wager on Twitter.

We came to an agreement that if I plug his Twitter account, it will be all good. So if you are on Twitter, follow @cbpost_sports so we don’t have to fold newspapers in Sydney for the next decade.

HUGE HIT
The Mike Thomas suspension didn’t affect the way Simon Despres plays apparently. He absolutely leveled Jacob Legace at center ice in the third period. Both players went flying.

Despres hardly got up before Brad Cuzner started beating on him. The two got into a very spirited bout until Cuzner slipped and fell to a knee. Despres is 6’4” while Cuzner is only 5’8”.

MIKE ON THE MIC
Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas took over as colour man on News 88.9 after being suspended. This is not the first time a player has gone on air, with most being quiet and soft spoken.

Thomas did an excellent job though, and sounded like an old pro. He jumped into the play-by-play at perfect times and carried on some good conversation with Tim Roszell.

Speaking of Roszell, he went on “The Drive” on News 88.9/News 91.9 before the game. For some reason, he and Les Stoodley of the Wildcats talked mostly about the Matt Cooke head shot.

ANOTHER MEDICAL EMERGENCY
Just a game after an elderly woman had to be taken away in a wheelchair after being hit by a puck at the Station, Centre 200 had their own situation this time. The Eagles had a post-game ceremony as they were awarding their game worn jerseys to several fans after the game on the ice. That is when everything went wrong as a man slipped on the ice, causing Tim Roszell and Mike Thomas on News 88.9 some bonus description time.

We asked our foes at the CB Post what happened:

@station_nation It was an elderly gentleman. He slipped on the ice after the game. Was conscious though when taken off on stretcher.

POST-GAME HIGHLIGHTS


OUT OF TOWN
Elsewhere in the QMJHL it was: Drummondville 7 Lewiston 6; Baie-Comeau 3 Chicoutimi 1; and Gatineau 4 Rimouski 1.

From toady's Lewiston Sun Journal:

But Drummondville starter Jake Allen, Team Canada's starting keeper at the World Junior Championship, was sick, throwing his mask and gloves off during play to get the officials' attention after facing only three shots.

QUICK HITS
The Eagles wore green jerseys in honor of former team president Greg Lynch… there was a sign at Centre 200 reading “bring back Kalin Paul,” who was arrested a short time ago… this was the last home game of the season for Cape Breton. They open up the playoffs in Moncton… Karel St. Laurent, known for his bad puck handling, made some very good passes… the game ended Saint John’s seven game road winning streak... the PEI Rocket are now officially Saint John’s first round playoff opponent… this was the final meeting of the year between the Eagles and Dogs. Saint John goes 6-1-0-1 against them and 3-0-0-1 at Centre 200… Les Stoodley went on a rant before the game on “The Drive” on how Moncton won the Rivalry Cup. Tim Roszell, being the classy gentleman that he is, didn’t bring up the fact that Saint John won the Jean Rougeau Trophy.

NEXT GAME
Saint John plays the Prince Edward Island Rocket Friday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre. Game time is 7:00 pm.