Final Score: Saint John 4, PEI 1
Saint John Goals: Jason Cameron (3), Steven Anthony (21), Michael Kirkpatrick (25), and Jonathan Huberdeau (35)
PEI Goals: Alex Noel (10)
Winning Goaltender: SNB – Mathieu Corbeil
Losing Goaltender: PEI – Evan Mosher
News 88.9 Top Dog: Jason Cameron
THE NUMBERS
Power Play: Rocket: 0/5, Sea Dogs: 0/3
Shots on Goal: Rocket: 4+11+6=21, Sea Dogs: 15+6+12=33
Length: 2:20
Attendance: 2,135
SAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Defenseman Jason Seed and forward Aidan Kelly were both healthy scratches for Saint John. Alexandre Beauregard missed his third straight game with what the Telegraph-Journal is reporting as a knee injury.
DOGS WIN 4-1
A strong first period helped guide the Saint John Sea Dogs to their tenth straight win. Saint John scored twice in the first period en route to a 4-1 victory over the Prince Edward Island Rocket Friday night at the Charlottetown Civic Centre.
PEI native Jason Cameron scored his third goal of the season in the first period while Steven Anthony also scored in the frame to give the Sea Dogs a 2-0 lead. PEI would play much better in the second period and got on the board thanks to Alex Noel. But in the third, the Sea Dogs would turn it on again and score twice in the frame.
“The first period was real good,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said to the Telegraph-Journal. "We skated and moved the puck real well and we were ready to play. The second was an ugly period and then we picked it up again in the third and played well.''
“A bad start in the first period. We just didn’t score on our chances,’’ said Rocket forward Alex Noël to The Guardian. “A good first period would have put them on their heels.’’
Cameron opened the scoring at 11:26 of the opening frame as he jammed the disc past Rocket netminder Evan Mosher. The Sea Dogs doubled their lead at 16:34 after Tomas Jurco’s shot found its way behind the net. Michael Kirkpatrick picked it up and put in front where Steven Anthony had a wide open cage to give the visitors a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Noel scored the lone goal in the second period to put the Rocket on the board as he managed to get the puck past Saint John goaltender Mathieu Corbeil.
In the third, the Sea Dogs got back on track as Kirkpatrick scored to give Saint John a two-goal lead once again. Then, at 16:57, the Dogs put the game away as Jurco sent a tremendous spinning backhand pass to an open Jonathan Huberdeau at the side of goal. Huberdeau registered his team leading 35th marker of the year to make it a 4-1 final on the Island.
STREAKING
With the win, the Sea Dogs have tied their season high for consecutive wins with 10. Saint John won 10 straight earlier this season from November 13 to December 8. A win tomorrow against Moncton will give the team the largest winning streak in the QMJHL this season.
Saint John has been on quite of tear of late and have not lost in regulation in the new year. They are 16-0-1-0 in their past 17 games.
Sea Dogs defenseman Kevin Gagne took a hit into the end boards by Philippe Paradis in the first period and left the game. He did not return.
His status at the moment is unknown, but Sea Dogs equipment manager David Kelly posted on Twitter that “he is alive.” That is always a positive thing.
It’s a tough break for Gagne and hopefully it is not too serious. The veteran battled a knee injury through Saint John’s playoff run last year.
SOLID CORBEIL
Sea Dogs goaltender Mathieu Corbeil played one of his better games with the team last night, making 20 saves in the win.
Corbeil made some big stops at key moments to keep the momentum going in Saint John’s favour. With the score 2-1 in the final minute of the second period, Corbeil made a flurry of stops to keep his team in the lead.
The Guardian newspaper says the Rocket hit four posts on the night.
This was the first time that Corbeil made back-to-back starts for the Dogs since being traded to Saint John. Jacob DeSerres made back-to-back starts last week so Corbeil could start against his old team in Halifax. If the rotation continues, Corbeil will start against the Mooseheads again on February 22 at Harbour Station.
JURCO KEEPS ROLLING
Tomas Jurco’s hot streak continued last night as he recorded three assists for the Dogs. His pass to Jonathan Huberdeau in the third period was definitely his best on the night.
The three assists give Jurco seven goals and seven assists in his past six games.
FOURTH LINE STRIKES
It was a great game by the fourth line of Ryan Tesink, Scott Oke, and Jason Cameron. The trio connected to give the Dogs a 1-0 lead in the first period, a goal that really seemed to spark the entire team after a bit of a blah start.
Tesink got in a scrap with Victor Provencher at 9:36 of the middle stanza after a scrum in the corner. Kind of a weird fight as the two were going at it for a brief moment, then things died down entirely, and then Provencher started up again and got the best of Tesink.
Cameron has been a bit of tear of late, scoring two goals and adding an assist in his last two games. He has six points on the year.
QUICK HITS
Good crowd at the Civic Centre as 2,135 were on hand for the contest… this was the Rocket’s final home game until March 2 due to the Civic Centre playing host to the Scotties Tournament of Hearts beginning next week. PEI will play four road games over that stretch… the Sea Dogs now the lead overall QMJHL standings by nine points over the Montreal Juniors and have two games in hand… the 50/50 draw was $2,170… Pierre Durepos was a team best +4. Tomas Jurco was a +3… Jimmy Oligny was a team worst -3 for the Rocket… Jonathan Huberdeau, Jurco, Ryan Tesink, and Nathan Beaulieu all led the way for Saint John in shots with four… there was some confusion to start the second period and there was a bit of a delay that caused both coaches to get upset. No clue what was going on… to relive the match, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.
HIGHLIGHTS…
… are posted here.
ALSO LAST NIGHT
Acadie-Bathurst 2 at Cape Breton 1 (SO)
Québec 7 at Lewiston 1
Val-d'Or 3 at Drummondville 4 (SO)
Halifax 2 at Gatineau 4
Baie-Comeau 0 at Rimouski 3
Chicoutimi 4 at Rouyn-Noranda 2
Montréal 2 at Shawinigan 3 (SO)
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats on tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 pm at Harbour Station. The game is sold out but a limited amount of standing room tickets are available.
Photo Credits: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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