FINAL (OT): Sea Dogs 4, Sagueneens 3
CHICOUTIMI, Que. – Eric Gelinas not only stung his former team, but he saved his new one.
An overtime goal by the New Jersey Devils prospect gave the Saint John Sea Dogs a 4-3 victory the Chicoutimi Sagueneens at the Georges Vezina Centre on Saturday evening in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
The Sea Dogs held a 3-0 lead in the third period until the Sagueneens stormed back to send the game into extra time. It was yet another case of the Sea Dogs sitting back on a lead and not pressing, allowing the Sagueneens to carry the play late in the third.
Michael Kirkpatrick, Stanislav Galiev, and Stephen MacAulay all scored for the winners. Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil played well in net, making 23 saves in the win.
The Sagueneens had goals from Steve Lebel, Napessis Andre, and Alexandre Roy. Goaltender Christopher Gibson was solid, making some excellent, timely saves while facing 41 shots on the night.
Saint John will have to correct their problems quickly as they will not be able to make many errors tomorrow afternoon against the Quebec Remparts.
FIRST PERIOD
After a few minutes of back-and-forth stuff, Simon Despres created the first scoring chance by coming down the wing and firing a shot wide. Then Jonathan Huberdeau sat in front but was denied by the pad of Christopher Gibson.
After Mike Thomas had a decent chance down low for Saint John, a scramble in the Sea Dogs crease created a good opportunity for the Sagueneens but the puck sailed wide of the net.
Saint John went to the penalty kill at 12:25 as Despres headed to the box. While shorthanded, Kevin Gagne sent a great pass to a wide open Michael Kirkpatrick who sent the shot wide. That would turn out to be the best scoring chance during the two-minute span.
Chicoutimi went back to the man advantage at 15:37 as Stanislav Galiev headed to the box. Kirkpatrick had yet another shorthanded chance as he found the disc and went in alone. But once again, the overage forward fired the disc wide. That would be the only excitement during the span.
Tomas Jurco had a break of his own a few minutes later. He made a move to his backhand but was denied by the pad of Gibson who stayed with him. Shortly after, Chicoutimi was buzzing around the net and got a few decent shots off on netminder Mathieu Corbeil.
Saint John went to the power play at 19:43. A Despres point shot was stopped but Stephen MacAulay found the rebound. Gibson made that stop as well but a large scrum was created as the buzzer sounded to end the frame. Out of all that, Nathan Beaulieu and Alexandre Roy dropped the gloves in a great tilt. The Sea Dogs defenseman was throwing some bombs, landing several blows to the head. Roy fell to the ice with his jersey pulled over his face.
Chicoutimi outshot Saint John 9-8 in the opening frame.
SECOND PERIOD
Huberdeau had the best chance early on as he performed a wraparound move that was stopped by Gibson. The Sagueneens then took two straight penalties at 4:28 and 6:08, giving the Dogs some power play time to work with.
Gelinas had the best chance on the man advantage as he beat Gibson with a one-time shot but couldn’t get it to beat the crossbar. Shortly after, Mike Thomas had a partial break but was hauled down by a Sagueneens defenseman. There was no penalty called on the questionable play.
With the man advantage over, Kirkpatrick fired a shot that produced a fairly large rebound. The puck trickled beside the crease but no Saint John player was there to tap it home. Pierre Durepos then got in on the action, entering a clear shooting lane and wristing the puck on goal that was stopped by Gibson.
Chicoutimi had a few good moments soon after. A wraparound shot went to the goal line but somehow Corbeil was able to get enough on it to keep it out. Then, Steve Lebel let a backhand shot on goal but was denied by the pad of Corbeil. After play continued for a few minutes, the officials went upstairs to check the wraparound save. After a short delay and a nice statue-like pose by Chicoutimi head coach Richard Martel, it was ruled no goal.
Saint John opened the scoring at 16:14. A nice feed from MacAulay found Kirkpatrick who had a brief break. The Sea Dogs alternate captain made a move to the backhand and deked out Gibson to give the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead.
The Dogs took a 2-0 lead at 18:54. Galiev was parked inside the circle and fired a shot that beat Gibson along the far post to double Saint John’s lead going into intermission.
Shots in the middle session were 16-8.
THIRD PERIOD
Saint John started the third period well. Phillips centered the puck for Huberdeau as the two had a mini-two-on-one chance but couldn’t get a shot on goal.
The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 1:03 as Charles Hudon ran into Corbeil on a partial break. MacAulay was able to redirect a point shot on the man advantage at 1:23 to give the Sea Dogs a 3-0 lead.
After Phillips let a sharp angle shot go that just missed the cage, the collapse began.
Alexandre Lavoie started it off as he cut through the crease, forcing Corbeil to make a nice stop. Soon after, the Sags got on the board at 10:13 as Lebel fired a low wrister from beside the circle that beat the Sea Dogs netminder to make it a 3-1 game.
Chicoutimi was beginning to pick up momentum until Alexandre Roy took a penalty at 11:43 to put the Dogs back on the power play. Saint John had some decent pressure but nothing serious on the ensuing man advantage.
Gelinas was called for tripping at 14:04, giving the Sagueneens a huge power play opportunity. After a Saint John time-out, the Sags tied the match as Napessis Andre sat below the dot and beat a downed Corbeil up high to make it a one-goal affair.
The Sagueneens kept pressing after the marker as Sean Girard let a shot go from just inside through some traffic, forcing Corbeil to make a quick pad save. At 17:30, Gauthier took dumb penalty as he was called for interference behind the net. On their final man advantage opportunity, the Sags delivered as Roy completed the Gordie Howe Hat Trick with the tying goal and make it a 3-3 game.
Shots in the final frame of regulation were 13-8 Saint John.
OVERTIME
Gelinas ended the game at 2:51 as he picked up the puck just above the crease area and fired one past Gibson in close range to give the Dogs a 4-3 victory.
Shots in the extra frame were 4-1 Saint John.
The Sea Dogs went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Sagueneens went 2-for-4.
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Forwards Scott Oke, Ryan Tesink, and Steven Anthony were all healthy scratches as the Sea Dogs coaching staff tries to keep their team as fresh as possible for Sunday’s game in Quebec City.
As a result of scratching three forwards, defenseman Kevin Gagne saw some time on the wing.
QUICK HITS
All three games that Mathieu Corbeil has started as a Sea Dogs have gone to extra time… Eric Gelinas had a team high seven shots against his former team… Chicoutimi defenseman Guillaume Cloutier, who went the other way in the Gelinas trade, was a -1 and had no points or shots… the Sea Dogs have gotten at least a point in their last nine games… to relive the match, check out the SN Live Blog.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take on one of the top teams in the country tomorrow in Quebec City as they face the Remparts. Note that this is a 3:00 pm local start, meaning the broadcast time is 4:00 pm in Atlantic Canada.
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
No comments:
Post a Comment