Saturday, April 7, 2012

PLAYOFF GAMEDAY 6: vs Drakkar

GAMEDAY
Round 2, Game 2
Baie-Comeau Drakkar vs Saint John Sea Dogs
Tonight at 7:00pm
Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live Blog: SN
Harbour Station – Saint John, NB


SERIES STATUS
Saint John leads the best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series 1-0.

PREVIEW
SAINT JOHN – The Baie-Comeau Drakkar showed last night that they are no joke.

The Drakkar kept with the Saint John Sea Dogs up until the halfway point of Friday's game. Then Stephen MacAulay flipped a switch. By the end of the second period it was 6-2 Saint John. In the end, the Dogs defeated the Drakkar 9-3 to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven quarter-final playoff series. Once Baie-Comeau got down a few goals, the wheels seemed to come off.

It’s pretty obvious that one of their main goals is to try and start scrums and whatnot after almost every whistle to try and get Saint John’s bug guns off their game. That didn't work last night. 

It was fairly physical and nasty game which should make tonight’s game - and the series - a good one. Ian Saab is expected to return which should make things even more interesting.

It’s going to be difficult for Baie-Comeau or any team to shut down Saint John’s offense. They have now scored 43 goals in five playoff games for an average of 8.6 per game. But it has been a balanced attack. Only two players have more than four goals. Four players have four goals. Four other players have two goals. And incredibly, one of the best players in CHL in Jonathan Huberdeau has just seven points.

In last night’s game, Saint John had a pair of goals from both Zack Phillips and Stephen MacAulay while singles came from Charlie Coyle, Tomas Jurco, Danick Gauthier, Ryan Tesink, and Stanislav Galiev. Mathieu Corbeil made 20 saves in net for the win.

Carl Gelinas scored twice for Baie-Comau while Lukas Cingel had the other. Rookie netminder Philippe Cadorette allowed eight goals on 28 shots before being replaced by Jimmy Appleby.

Both teams are 4-0 when they have scored first in the post-season. Safe to say the first goal is going to be a big one.

With the next three games set to be played in Baie-Comeau, tonight’s game will give one team momentum as the series shifts to a different venue. Game time tonight is 7pm at Harbour Station.

THE NUMBERS - REGULAR SEASON
Baie-ComeauSaint John
Record29-34-1-4 (6th East)50-15-0-3 (1st Maritimes)
Home Record- - -28-5-0-1
Road Record11-21-1-1- - -
Goals For217298
Goals Against241180
Goals/Game3.15 (15th)4.34 (2nd)
GA/Game3.50 (8th)2.62 (16th)
Shots/Game30.7 (5th)32.99 (3rd)
SA/GAME28.08 (4th)26.60 (1st)
PIM/GAME15.8 (9th)16.6 (6th)
Scoring First20-8-1-135-3-0-0
Overall PP23.4% (6th)23.8% (5th)
Home PP- - -23.4% (6th)
Road PP24.5% (3rd)- - -
Overall PK79.3% (7th)81.1% (5th)
Home PK- - -84.6% (4th)
Road PK73.8% (13th)- - -

LEADING SCORERS - REGULAR SEASON
Baie-Comeau
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
David Rose67174562
Carl Gelinas63253661
Tomas Filippi60193453

Saint John
PlayerGPGoalsAssistsPoints
Danick Gauthier66473986
Zack Phillips60305080
Jonathan Huberdeau37304272

GOALTENDERS - REGULAR SEASON
Baie-Comeau
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Philippe Cadorette8-10-0-03.050.898
Jimmy Appleby10-15-1-33.850.866

Saint John
GoaltenderRecordGAASV%
Mathieu Corbeil37-10-0-12.380.911
Sebastien Auger14-2-0-22.650.897

PLAYOFF SERIES
GAME ONE – Baie-Comeau 3, Saint John 9
GAME TWO – Saturday, April 7: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
GAME THREE – Tuesday, April 10: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Henry-Leonard
GAME FOUR – Wednesday, April 11: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Henry-Leonard
*GAME FIVE – Friday, April 13: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Henry-Leonard
*GAME SIX – Monday, April 16: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*GAME SEVEN – Tuesday, April 17: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station
*If Necessary

SEASON SERIES
November 4 – Saint John 7 at Baie-Comeau 0
November 5 – Saint John 3 at Baie-Comeau 2
November 13 – Baie-Comeau 3 at Saint John 5

NOTES

  • Defenseman Ian Saab is eligible to return from suspension today. He has not played since March 11.
  • Baie-Comeau forward Raphael Bussieres will serve the final game of his suspension today.
  • The Drakkar have the best power play in the playoffs with a rating of 40.9%.
  • Neither team has lost a game in the playoffs so far when scoring first.

OTHER GAMES
Rimouski at Blainville-Boisbriand - 7:00 PM EDT
Halifax at Quebec - 7:00 PM EDT
Chicoutimi at Shawinigan - 7:00 PM EDT

NEXT GAME
Game 3 of the quarter-final playoff series is Tuesday night at 8:30pm in Baie-Comeau. 

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