FINAL: Sea Dogs 5, Olympiques 0
GATINEAU, Que. – It was a dominating performance by the Saint John Sea Dogs on Monday night.
The Sea Dogs rattled off five goals and 35 shots to beat the Gatineau Olympiques 5-0 in Game Three of the 2011 President’s Cup final. The victory gives Saint John a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven championship final.
Saint John dominated the game from start to finish and always looked in control. A goal by Stephen MacAulay in the final second of the first period proved to be the winner. The Sea Dogs also had markers from Jonathan Huberdeau, Aidan Kelly, Danick Gauthier, and Mike Thomas.
Goaltender Jacob DeSerres only had to make a few key saves to earn the shutout win. Gatineau could only fire 17 shots on goal in the game with 10 of them coming in the final frame.
It was quite a performance by Saint John who struggled to generate offense in Games One and Two of the series on home ice. But the Dogs didn’t look intimidated by the loud sold out crowd at the Robert Guertin Centre and took care of business for a full 60 minutes.
Olympiques netminder Maxime Clermont, who has been a wall in this series, allowed all five goals on 35 shots to pick up the loss.
Saint John now carries the momentum into Game Four which will be held on Wednesday night in Gatineau.
FIRST PERIOD
Saint John applied some pressure early. Tomas Jurco came out from the corner and dished to Ryan Tesink who let a backhand shot on goal but was stopped by Gatineau goaltender Maxime Clermont. Then, Stephen MacAulay centered the puck beautifully for Alexandre Beauregard but he couldn’t get a shot off.
A rare President’s Cup final fight took place at 2:55 between Beauregard and Mitchell Porowski. Both players got some good shots in before being separated by the officials.
Some four-on-four action took place at 4:24 after some rough stuff. During that span, Danick Gauthier let a dangerous looking backhand shot go that was stopped. Then, a turnover in the slot area allowed Jonathan Huberdeau to have a mini-breakaway but missed high and wide.
At 6:44, Ryan Tesink headed off for slashing and the Olympiques headed to the power play. On the man advantage, Christian Ouellet made a spin move down low but couldn’t connect. Soon after, Huberdeau was sprung on a long shorthanded breakaway but was stopped by the pads of Clermont. Gatineau had great pressure on the power play but couldn’t score.
A few moments after Tesinik stepped out of the box, Huberdeau went in alone again and made a move to the forehand but Clermont stayed with him and made the save.
Later in the period, Adam Janosik wound up for a big point shot but had it tipped out of a play by a Sea Dog stick.
With time ticking down, Beauregard entered the zone and centered it for a streaking MacAulay. The St. Louis Blues prospect made a move to the backhand, and with next-to-no-time left, slid the puck in to make it 1-0 Saint John. The play went under review but it would stand.
Shots in the opening frame were 18-5 Saint John.
SECOND PERIOD
At 1:49 of the second period, Pierre Durepos wristed a low shot on net that was padded away by Clermont. The rebound went straight to Huberdeau who had an open cage to make it 2-0 Sea Dogs.
Huberdeau made a great move around a couple of Gatineau defenseman moments after the goal. He passed it over to Stanislav Galiev but was robbed by the glove of Clermont.
A little later on, Zack Phillips made a nice move to get around his man and let a shot go that was stopped by Clermont.
Saint John opened up a 3-0 lead at 9:40. Some nice work along the boards by Scott Oke and Jason Cameron allowed Cameron to send the puck to an open Aidan Kelly. The Saint John native wired a wrist shot over the blocker of the Olympiques’ ‘tender to extend the Sea Dogs lead.
Some rough stuff at 9:50 created a some more four-on-four action but nothing would come out of it.
Gatineau looked dangerous on a rush midway through the period. The initial shot was stopped by Saint John goaltender Jacob DeSerres but he was way out of his crease. He scrambled back to make a nice stop on Jean-Gabriel Pageau to keep Gatineau off the score sheet.
Later in the period, a point shot bounced down into the Gatineau crease but was cleared away. Then, a Galiev wrist shot sailed just a little wide of the net.
Saint John went to the man advantage at 17:11. It looked like the Sea Dogs had scored just minutes in as Phillips jammed the puck across the line. But the officials went upstairs for a brief review and, like the original call, it was waived off. That would be the Sea Dogs’ only great opportunity on the power play.
Shots in the middle stanza were 12-2 Saint John for a two-period total of 30-7.
THIRD PERIOD
Gatineau had a bit of pressure going to start the period. Philippe Halley was in front and set up a linemate perfectly at the side of the net but DeSerres was there to keep it out. Then, Jocob Conrad was in close but failed to score.
The Sea Dogs went back to the power play at 5:06. On the man advantage, Eric Gelinas let a point shot go that was stopped. Ryan Tesink picked up the rebound but was denied by Clermont. Then, Mike Thomas cut in front but was stopped as well.
After a few minutes of nothing, the Sea Dogs made a it 4-0 affair. Tomas Jurco crossed the line and fed the disc ahead to a streaking Gauthier who went in alone. He ripped a shot off the crossbar and in to extend Saint John’s lead.
Things really slowed down after the goal as neither team pressed much.
At 16:11, a loose puck sat just above the crease for Mike Thomas. The Sea Dogs captain quickly picked it up and roofed it over Clermont to put the Dogs ahead 5-0.
Gatineau had a late power play at 18:38 as Beauregard was called for boarding. The puck rolled to the Saint John goal line but managed to stay out, keeping DeSerres’ shutout intact.
Shots in the final frame were 10-5 Gatineau.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.
NEXT GAME: Game Four of the championship series is Wednesday at 8:00 pm at the Robert Guertin Centre.
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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