DOGS WIN BABY
The Saint John Sea Dogs rebounded from a 2-1 upset in Victoriaville on Saturday with a 6-3 victory in Shawinigan on Sunday afternoon at Centre Bionest in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play.
Saint John played a solid road game and never trailed in the contest. Stanislav Galiev opened the scoring at 7:21 of the first period. But despite the Cataractes scoring just under two minutes later, the Dogs battled hard and never fell behind.
After losing in regulation for the first time in 22-games the night before, Saint John didn’t miss a beat and played the typical high octane Sea Dogs game.
Phillips scored at 11:17 to cap off the goals for the first period. In the second, Saint John took a 4-1 lead thanks to back-to-back goals from Eric Gelinas and Tomas Jurco.
In the third, Shawinigan slowly attempted to climb back as Loik Poudrier netted his ninth of the season just 20 seconds into the fame to make it a 4-2 contest. But Galiev would not allow it to be a one-goal affair as he scored his second of the match at 9:37.
Poudrier was back at it just 22 seconds after Galiev’s goal to make it a two-goal game again. Phillips closed out the scoring at 12:14 to make it a 6-3 final in favour of the visitors.
"It was a big bounce-back game,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said about Sunday's performance to the Telegraph-Journal. "Coming in here, we looked at this as a big game with something to prove. We probably needed that loss (on Saturday) to get our best game back.''
Nathan Beaulieu missed his second straight game with what the Sea Dogs are calling a “lower body injury.” He was a surprise scratch for Saturday’s game in Victoriaville.
The other scratches were forwards Aidan Kelly and Jason Cameron.
GALLANT SPEAKS
Some post-game audio of Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant can be found by clicking on THIS LINK.
He talks about the bounce-back effect, getting ready for the playoffs, the Sea Dogs’ unreal record, rolling four lines; Huberdeau’s playing time, and a bunch of other topics. It’s a good listen.
SHAW GOES DOWN
The Sea Dogs finish the season with a 2-0 record against the Cataractes with the first meeting coming just last weekend at Harbour Station. In the two matches, the Saint John outscored Shawinigan 13-6.
Unless they meet in the playoffs, this was the final meeting between these two teams until after the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup host is announced.
This was also the Sea Dogs’ first-ever win in Shawinigan apparently.
THE BOURRET SHOW
How about Gabriel Bourret this weekend? He played quite well in Saturday’s game but was a real star in Sunday’s match. The defenseman record three assists in the tilt en route to second star honours.
The second-year Sea Dog has really taken his play up a notch of late, especially with the absence of Nathan Beaulieu over the past two contests.
Bourret now has eight goals and 23 assists in 55 games this year.
BEAUREGARD VS DONNELLY
Decent tilt between Alexandre Beauregard and Dillon Donnelly in the first period.
No clue what happened to forward Danick Gauthier but, according to News 88.9, he was not on the bench in the third period. There was no obvious signs of Gauthier suffering an injury at any time in the game.
Defenseman Eric Gelinas was also a bit wobbly after taking an awkward hit at the blue line in the third period. He headed back to the bench favouring his hip area after a visit from Sea Dogs athletic therapist Jeff Kelly. He would return to the match.
BOURNIVAL HURT
With just a few weeks left in the regular season, the Cataractes lost their captain to injury in the first period of yesterday’s game. Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael Bournival suffered an undisclosed injury at some point in the first 20 minutes and did not return.
The Shawinigan newspaper L’Hebdo du St-Maurice is reporting that Bournival will be out at least two weeks.
Bournival has 28 goals and 36 assists in 56 games this year.
THE NUMBERS
Saint John, Sea Dogs 6 at Shawinigan, Cataractes 3 - Status Final
Sunday, February 27, 2011 - Centre Bionest
Saint John 2 2 2 - 6
Shawinigan 1 0 2 - 3
1st Game Period-1, Saint John, Galiev 30 (Phillips, Gagné), 7:21. 2, Shawinigan, Plante 6 (Veilleux), 9:08. 3, Saint John, Phillips 34 (Bourret, Anthony), 11:17. Penalties-Beauregard Snb (fighting), 5:09; Donnelly Sha (fighting), 5:09; Labrecque Sha (high-sticking, high-sticking), 13:12.
2nd Game Period-4, Saint John, Gélinas 12 (MacAulay, Bourret), 10:14. 5, Saint John, Jurco 29 (Bourret, Kirkpatrick), 13:31. Penalties-No Penalties
3rd Game Period-6, Shawinigan, Poudrier 9 (Zlobin), 0:20. 7, Saint John, Galiev 31 (Phillips, Huberdeau), 9:37. 8, Shawinigan, Poudrier 10 (Racine, Le Sieur), 9:59. 9, Saint John, Phillips 35 (Huberdeau), 12:14. Penalties-Kirkpatrick Snb (hooking), 4:59; Seed Snb (tripping), 10:30; Sakaris Sha (holding), 12:08.
Shots on Goal-Saint John 38. Shawinigan 30.
Power Play Opportunities-Saint John 0 of 3; Shawinigan 0 of 2.
Goalies-Saint John, DeSerres 25-2-0-0 (30 shots-27 saves). Shawinigan, Girard 26-15-2-1 (15 shots-12 saves); Dubeau 11-5-0-0 (23 shots-20 saves).
A-4,003
Referees-Marc Muylaert (5), Jean-Philippe Sylvain (4).
Linesmen-Stéfan Capano (44), Daniel Béchard (22).
QUICK HITS
According to our boy Rick from McKeen’s Hockey Magazine, there were roughly 30 NHL scouts at yesterday’s game… Michael Kirkpatrick has now gotten a point in nine straight road games… Phillips had two goals and two assists. He went an ugly 4/17 on faceoffs… Stanislav Galiev and Eric Gelinas each led Saint John in the shots department with five each… Loik Poudrier, who had two goals, lead the Cats in shots with six… nothing came out of the Huberdeau vs Jonathan Racine sideshow. The two got in a scrap last weekend at the Station after Racine put a cheap hit on Huberdeau… speaking of Huberdeau, he remains third in the QMJHL scoring race with 91 points… Shawinigan has now lost four straight games and are 5-5-0-0 in their last 10… Saint John closes put their road trip with a 2-1 record… to relive the game, check out the SN Live Blog Replay… Gabriel Bourret was the News 88.9 Top Dog.
RANDOM THOUGHTS
- The Shawinigan media has not cried over the loss yet, nor have they claimed that Saint John only won this game because the Sea Dogs rigged the entry draft.
- Another rough game for Cataractes goaltender Gabriel Girard against Saint John.
- Galiev now has twice as many goals as he did last season.
- The Cataractes have a nicely designed website.
- The trade deadline sucked.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs will hoist the Rivalry Cup for the first time this Friday at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station as they take on the Moncton Wildcats.
Photo Credits: La Nouvelliste, Marc Henwood/Station Nation, Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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