By Station Nation Staff
FULL RECAP
ROCKET BLAST DOGS
CHARLOTTETOWN, PE – The Prince Edward Island took the lead and then went into shutdown mode Wednesday night in Charlottetown, handing the Saint John Sea Dogs a 5-2 loss in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
"It's a rewarding win obviously,” said Travis McIsaac to our boy Nolan Reid of the PEI Rocket Twitter account. “Everyone showed up and everyone emptied the tank tonight.
"You know beating a team like that feels good. Really, really good win for the guys."
The Rocket led 1-0 after one and 3-0 after two periods. The Sea Dogs’ powerful offense started to come to life in the third period, but by then, it was too late. Even when Saint John did apply some pressure, the Rocket would jump right back in and squash any chance of a comeback attempt.
PEI has been close to beating the Dogs at times this season and finally were able to put all together on Wednesday to pick up the win.
It certainly wasn’t the best game of the season for Saint John. The team looked flat at times and were not the dominant team that we have watched all season. The offense had a hard time generating anything, mostly because of Rocket netminder Evan Mosher
PEI opened the scoring at 17:33 of the first period as Olivier Croteau scored his eighth of the year to make it 1-0. Shots after 20 minutes were 9-8 in favour of the home side.
At 13:50 of the second frame, Ben Duffy netted his team-leading 36th marker of the year on backhand shot in close to give PEI a 2-0 advantage. 26 seconds later, Travis McIsaac scored to give the Rocket a stunning 3-0 lead halfway through the match. Shots in the middle session were 14-12 Saint John.
Who else other than Jonathan Huberdeau finally got the Dogs on the board in the third period after some hard work in the crease area. But the momentum created from the marker was quickly driven away by Duffy’s second of the match at 4:27 to give the Rocket back their three-goal lead.
On a power play at 16:26, Tomas Jurco scored to put the Dogs within two. But Alex Noel put the butter on the toast at 18:20 with an empty netter to give PEI a 5-2 victory.
THE NUMBERS
Saint John, Sea Dogs 2 at PEI, Rocket 5 - Status FinalSAINT JOHN SCRATCHES
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 - Charlottetown Civic Centre
Saint John 0 0 2 - 2
PEI 1 2 2 - 5
1st Game Period-1, PEI, Croteau 8 (Noël, Fournier), 17:33. Penalties-Huberdeau Snb (hooking), 0:26.
2nd Game Period-2, PEI, Duffy 36 (Nestrasil, Capstick), 13:50. 3, PEI, McIsaac 15 (Duffy, Capstick), 14:16. Penalties-Beaulieu Snb (high-sticking), 4:45; Oligny Pei (cross-checking), 11:14; Provencher Pei (high-sticking), 14:56.
3rd Game Period-4, Saint John, Huberdeau 42 (Phillips, Gagné), 4:07. 5, PEI, Duffy 37 (Nestrasil, Polasek), 4:27. 6, Saint John, Jurco 31 (Anthony, Gélinas), 16:26 (pp). 7, PEI, Noël 14 (Croteau), 18:20 (en). Penalties-Polasek Pei (interference of a player or a goaltender), 0:26; Galiev Snb (slashing), 10:36; Fournier Pei (tripping), 14:52.
Shots on Goal-Saint John 39. PEI 29.
Power Play Opportunities-Saint John 1 of 4; PEI 0 of 3.
Goalies-Saint John, DeSerres 26-3-0-0 (28 shots-24 saves). PEI, Mosher 24-21-3-6 (39 shots-37 saves).
A-2,109
Referees-Jeff Hopkins (20).
Linesmen-Wayne Doyle (43), Rory Faulkner (68).
Forwards Danick Gauthier and Aidan Kelly were both sick and did not play. 20-year old forward Michael Kirkpatrick was a late scratch for an undetermined reason. Defenseman Jason Seed, who just returned to the team after suffering a death in his family, was inserted into the lineup.
NOT READY TO GO
It seems the Sea Dogs just were not prepared for this game.
"There was no groove and there was no commitment when we left the rink in Saint John,'' Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said after Wednesday's loss to the Telegraph-Journal. "I haven't seen us play a game like that in quite a while. We've had four games in a row on the road and there was probably a little fatigue, but definitely the mental part wasn't there tonight.''
Jonathan Huberdeau agreed.
“We have to be more prepared,” said Huberdeau to the Charlottetown Guardian. “Not disappointed. We want to win these last two games and be ready for the playoffs.”
The Sea Dogs are coming off a three game road swing that saw them play in Rimouski, Bathurst, and Cape Breton in just four games.
THE MACHINE
It’s becoming a recurring them when these two teams play each other: Evan Mosher is a beast.
The man who put on one of the best goaltending performances in league history earlier this season at Harbour Station was back at it again last night. Although he didn’t need to make as many stops, Mosher made 37 saves - many if them unreal - to earn the win.
A lot of his stops were huge, especially in the third period when the Dogs came out buzzing.
“Thank God. We finally got that win against them,” said Mosher to The Guardian. “Certainly a memorable one, last game at home.”
With Mosher putting on clinics in net and the Rocket actually starting to produce some stretches of wins, could the team pull off a first-round playoff upset? We shall see.
DeSERRES RETURNS
As other players were hit with the flu, goaltender Jacob DeSerres made his return to the crease after fighting illness on the clubs road trip last week.
DeSerres looked a little rusty at times but played decent, making 24 saves in goal.
The netminder picked up his first loss in 14 games and hadn’t lost a match since December 30 in Bathurst. It was only his third loss of the season.
NO HISTORY
Saint John can tie history but they can no longer break it.
With the loss, the Sea Dogs can now only reach the 58-win mark which would tie them for the league record for wins in a single season. Saint John will have to win their games Friday against the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Sunday against the Rocket in order to meet the mark.
It’s too bad that the Dogs won’t have a chance to break the record, but, the fact that the Sea Dogs are even in this conversation is quite incredible.
The QMJHL website has an epic rundown of some of records, comparing the Sea Dogs to some of the greatest QMJHL teams of all-time.
By winning their two games at home this weekend, Saint John can become the first team to ever go an entire regular season without a regulation loss on home ice.
REDEMPTION
According to the Guardian, the Sea Dogs had won nine straight over the Rocket going into this contest. That includes last year’s first-round playoff series.
Saint John is now 6-1-0-0 against PEI this season with the last meeting coming this Sunday at Harbour Station.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Rocket website provides some highlights from last night’s game.
QUICK HITS
This game was supposed to be played on December 28, 2010. Due to a snowstorm, this game was postponed to March 16, 2011… this was only Saint John’s fourth divisional loss of the year… Jonathan Huberdeau has now scored in six straight games. He has 101 points on the season… Stephen MacAulay and Alexandre Beauregard were both a minus-3… Tomas Jurco was literally firing on all cylinders, leading the team with 10 shots on goal… Samuel Morneau had five shots for the Rocket… Stanislav Galiev had three hits for Saint John… Adam Polasek had four hits… this ended Saint John’s six-game winning streak… the Rocket are 7-2-1-0 in their last 10… to relive the match, check out the SN Live Blog Replay.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles tomorrow night at 7:30 pm at Harbour Station.
Photo Credit: The Guardian
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