FINAL: Olympiques 2, Sea Dogs 5
SAINT JOHN – Make it eight straight wins for the Saint John Sea Dogs.
The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League club has been hotter-than-toast (pictured) over the past few weeks. Their hot play continued Saturday night at Harbour Station as the Sea Dogs defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 5-2.
Tomas Jurco had a pair of goals while Stanislav Galiev, Stephen MacAulay, and Zach Phillips added singles. Jacob DeSerres had another solid game in net, stopping 25 shots.
Another dominant first period guided Saint John to yet another home victory. The Sea Dogs improved to an insane record of 15-0-0-1 at Harbour Station this season.
Tye McGinn and Raphael Lafontaine scored for the visitors who had their seven game winning streak snapped. Francois Lacerte started the game in net for Gatineau, allowing three goals on 18 shots. Maxime Clermont relieved the goaltender to start the second period. He didn’t fare much better, allowing two goals on 17 shots.
FIRST PERIOD
Jonathan Huberdeau had the best chance early after a Gatineau defenseman turned the puck over. Huberdeau cut through the crease and went to the forehand but was robbed by Olympiques starting goaltender Francois Lacerte. Then, Mike Thomas fed a streaking Guillaume Cloutier who was denied by the pad of the Gatineau goaltender.
After a failed power play attempt by the Sea Dogs, Tomas Jurco opened the scoring for the home team. Jurco fired a shot right on Lacerte who kicked the puck away. But Jurco found his own rebound and managed to get enough on the shot to go off the Olympiques goaltender and in to make it a 1-0 game at 7:14.
Gabriel Bourret went to the box at 7:37 for tripping. Christian Ouellet had the best chance for the visitors on the power play, missing a wide open net on the doorstep as the puck was tangled in his skates. With the man advantage over, Philippe Halley had a short breakaway but shot wide of Jacob DeSerres in the Sea Dogs goal.
At 11:46, a great pass from along the boards found Stanislav Galiev who crept down to the crease area. The puck slid off Galiev’s stick and slid under the legs of Lacerte to make it a 2-0 Saint John game.
The Sea Dogs made it 3-0 at 19:48. Lacerte stopped a point shot but couldn’t stop the rebound as Stephen MacAulay found it and had an open net to add to Saint John’s lead.
Shots in the first period were 18-7.
SECOND PERIOD
Maxime Clermont replaced Lacerte to start the second period of play. It was Gatineau having the best chance early as Tommy Tremblay cut through the crease but was robbed by the leg of DeSerres.
Steven Anthony then had a good chance for Saint John as he tried to cut across the top of the crease, getting a shot off that was stopped by the pad of Clermont. Then rookie Jason Cameron had a solid chance on a nice shot through traffic but was denied.
Gatineau got on the board at 10:08 of the middle frame as a pass from behind the net found Tye McGinn in front. He pulled off a nice spin move and beat DeSerres with a low backhand shot to make it a 3-1 game.
After Despres hammered McGinn in the end zone at 12:39, Gatineau went to the man advantage. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had a good chance on a one-timer at the side of the net but was stopped by DeSerres.
With the ‘Piques power play over, Saint John went back to work. A pass from the far corner went cross ice to Jurco on the doorstep but he tipped the puck wide.
The Sea Dogs got their three goal lead back at 16:15. Kevin Gagne came down the wing and centered to a streaking Jurco. The import made a deke to the backhand and roofed the puck past Clermont to make it a 4-1 contest.
At 18:55, Huberdeau tried to enter the zone on a breakaway but was hooked up and rewarded with a penalty shot. The skilled sniper pulled off his trademark move to the forehand but Clermont made the stop.
Shots in the second stanza were 10 apiece.
THIRD PERIOD
In the final frame, MacAulay came down the wing and cut in front, letting a shot loose that went wide.
Saint John went to the power play at 3:24. Nathan Beaulieu let a point shot go through some traffic but Clermont got just enough of the puck with his trapper to keep the puck out. A few moments later, Anthony hit the crossbar.
Gatineau got their second marker of the match at 7:10. With Clermont on the bench in favour of an extra attacker on a delayed penalty, Raphael Lafontaine walked out from behind the goal line and jammed the puck under DeSerres to make it a two goal game with lots of time left.
Gatineau was buzzing following the goal, getting some decent pressure on but just couldn’t score.
The ‘Piques took a lethal penalty at 11:24. On the man advantage, Beaulieu sent a bullet pass from the point down low to Phillips. The Fredericton native simply redirected the puck into the net, hardly moving his stick, to make it a 5-2 game.
Adam Janosik had a good offensive opportunity late, making a deke to the backhand that forced DeSerres to make a great sprawling save.
Gatineau had a late power play chance but it was too late, giving Saint John a 5-2 victory.
Shots in the third were 10-7 Gatineau.
Saint John went 1/3 on the power play while the Olympiques went 0/5.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Charlottetown to face the PEI Rocket Tuesday at 7:00 pm.
No comments:
Post a Comment