FINAL: Sea Dogs 4, Rocket 1
CHARLOTTETOWN, PEI – The Saint John Sea Dogs are on a serious roll at the moment.
The top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League has now won 10 straight games and have earned at least a point in 17 consecutive contests. Their latest victory came Friday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre as the Sea Dogs defeated the Prince Edward Island Rocket 4-1 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
For the most part, the Sea Dogs played well and earned a hard fought win. It was certainly a better result than the last time these two teams met where Evan Mosher played the role of a brick wall in the PEI crease.
Mosher looked a lot more human on this night and even showed some frustration in the third period by slapping the puck into the boards with his stick after a whistle. The Rocket goaltender made 29 saves in the loss. Scoring the lone Rocket goal was Alex Noel.
The Sea Dogs had goals courtesy of Jason Cameron, Steven Anthony, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Jonathan Huberdeau. Tomas Jurco had three assists. Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil played his most solid game as a member of the club, making 20 saves for the win.
Saint John gave the Rocket the opportunity to get back into this game in the second period as the squad got into some penalty trouble. Luckily for the Sea Dogs, the Rocket could not connect.
"We played good and we didn't score on the PP which killed us," said Rocket forward Victor Provencher after the game to the Rocket’s official Twitter page (operated by our boy Nolan Reid).
PEI went 0-for-5 on the man advantage.
FIRST PERIOD
Josh Currie had the first good scoring chance as he stood in front with the puck but ripped it wide of the Saint John goal. Shortly after, Stanislav Galiev came down the wing and sent a shot right on but it was deflected away by Rocket netminder Evan Mosher.
It was a pretty good pace in the first half of the first period as both teams were skating hard. But despite some solid back-and-forth action, neither team was doing much offensively.
Finally, Tomas Jurco got some pressure going as he sent a shot just wide of some deep amounts of traffic.
Saint John made it a 1-0 game at 11:26. Ryan Tesink was in the corner and sent a pass in front to Jason Cameron. The PEI native was there to bang the puck home and give the Dogs a 1-0 lead.
Saint John started to pick things up after the goal. Jurco sniped a shot in the high slot but was quickly blockered away by Mosher. Then Nathan Beaulieu ripped a shot from along the goal line but was denied by Mosher’s pad.
The Sea Dogs jumped out to a 2-0 lead at 16:34. Jurco was stopped in close but the puck rebounded behind the net for Michael Kirkpatrick. The 20-year old tossed it in front where Steven Anthony was able to tap it over the line to double Saint John’s lead.
Beaulieu had the last good chance of the period as he riffled a shot from long range that was stopped nicely by the shoulder of Mosher.
Shots in the opening frame were 15-4 Sea Dogs.
SECOND PERIOD
There was a long delay to start the second period as the Rocket were late coming out, then given a penalty, then the penalty was removed, then both coaches were upset. It was mess that resulted in opening the frame as it should have at five-on-five.
Sea Dogs goaltender Mathieu Corbeil came up big in the early parts of the period as he robbed Alex Noel with the pad in close.
Saint John started to get in some penalty trouble in the second as Jonathan Huberdeau, who was trying to spring in on a breakaway, got tangled up with a Rocket defenseman in the offensive zone and was called for holding. On the ensuing the power play, the Rocket couldn’t get much going. Their best chance came when Travis McIsaac was denied in front.
PEI got on the board at 5:43. After Corbeil made the first stop, a huge scramble ensued in the Saint John crease. Corbeil was down and out while Noel was able to jam the disc in to make it a 2-1 game.
Not long after the goal at 5:57, the Dogs went to the power play as Andrej Nestrasil threw the puck out of play. Huberdeau had the best power play opportunity for Saint John as he tipped a shot on goal at the side of net but was robbed by the pad of Mosher.
After Victor Provencher was hooked up by Simon Despres, a big scrum went down in the corner at 9:36. Ryan Tesink and Provencher dropped the gloves in choppy tilt that featured the Rocket winger getting the best of Tesink. The Rocket got a power play out of it but had nothing to show for it.
A loose puck at the side of the net later in frame was picked up and then performed a wraparound but was stopped nicely by Sea Dogs keeper Corbeil. At the other end, Pierre Durepos let a point shot go that was tipped wide.
Galiev was called for rouging at 15:35 but the PEI man advantage quickly ended at 15:42 as McIsaac headed to the sin bin. With the players out of the box and late in the period, Corbeil was forced to make a couple nice saves as the buzzer sounded to keep Saint John in the lead.
Shots in the middle stanza were 11-6 in favour of the home side.
THIRD PERIOD
Philippe Paradis and Jean-Sebastien Fournier entered the zone on a two-on-one in the early stages of the third period but couldn’t get a shot off as the pass was deflected away. Soon after, Pierre Durepos gave Pelipe Corbo a big hit in the neutral zone.
As the frame grew on, Huberdeau nearly scored a beauty as he danced Jimmy Oligny with the puck but couldn’t beat Mosher’s wall in the PEI crease.
The Sea Dogs made it a 3-1 game at 6:55. The puck was centered down low and then given off to Kirkpatrick at the side of net who had a wide open net to extend Saint John’s lead and give them a big insurance marker. The goal came with some controversy as Fournier was injured prior to the goal but the Dogs were not given a penalty nor did the whistle blow.
Not long after, Olivier Croteau entered the zone and made a nice move to the backhand but was denied by Corbeil. At 9:01 the Rocket had yet another power play. But despite some decent pressure this time around, the home squad still couldn’t score.
Ryan Tesink then had a good chance for the Sea Dogs in front but was denied by the pad of Mosher. Then, after a scramble, the puck came out to Beaulieu who wristed a backhand shot on net but was also stopped by the Rocket ‘tender.
Saint John put it away at 16:57. Jurco sent a beautiful backhand spin-pass to a wide open Huberdeau who was parked at the side of the cage to give the Dogs a 4-1 lead.
Shots in the third period were 12-6 Saint John.
PEI went 0-for-5 on the man advantage while Saint John went 0-for-3.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats on Sunday at 4:00 pm at Harbour Station. There are only a few standing room tickets remaining for this Rivalry Cup contest.
Photo Credit: The Guardian
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