RECAP: The Streak Continues. Dogs Lose 5-2.

FINAL: Quebec 5, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs’ losing streak has hit four games.

The Sea Dogs dropped their fourth consecutive Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game on Saturday night at Harbour Station, falling 5-2 to the Quebec Remparts.

It was more of the same issues for the Sea Dogs – they got plenty of shots, some quality scoring chances, but just could not capitalize enough. During this losing skid the Sea Dogs have scored just four goals. This game was the first time Saint John has scored more than one goal in a game since October 6^th.

Spencer Smallman and Jason Cameron scored for Saint John. Sebastien Auger made 23 saves in the loss.

The loss dropped the Sea Dogs to 5-7-0-1 on the season.

Quebec meanwhile is moving in the opposite direction. They have picked up points in each of their past six games and are now 6-5-3-0 after an awful start to the year.

The Remparts had goals in this game from Fabrice Herzog, Jason Houde, Adam Erne, Kurt Etchegary, and Anthony Duclair. Callum Booth made 35 saves for his first career QMJHL win.

FIRST PERIOD

Just 46 seconds in, a shot following a Quebec faceoff win was stopped by Sebastien Auger but Fabrice Herzog potted the rebound to give Quebec an early 1-0 lead.

Saint John then had a couple of good chances. Michael Abbott blasted one off the post and then Oliver Cooper fed Mackenzie Brown in close but he was stopped.

At 4:44, Stephen Anderson took a slashing penalty and Kelly Bent a roughing penalty to send the Remparts to a full two-minute five-on-three. Ryan Culkin hit the post and that would be Quebec’s best chance. The Remparts had some good pressure applied but the Dogs would survive it.

At 8:22, the Remparts made it 2-0. Brent Turnbull got the puck at the line and fed Jason Houde. Auger was caught out of position and could not recover quick enough.

Saint John went to the power play at 10:08 as Adam Erne took an interference penalty. Abbott hit the post during the man advantage. Culkin took a penalty at 11:32 to send the Dogs to a five-on-three and then Erne took another penalty at 12:40 to create another five-on-three. Spencer Smallman would score on the power play to make it a 2-1 contest at 13:08.

Shots in the first were 19-10 Saint John.

SECOND PERIOD

Saint John got into penalty troubles early in the second. At 1:04 Noah Zilbert headed off but Quebec couldn’t do much on the man advantage. Then Alexander McQuaid took a high sticking minor at 5:35 but, once again, the Remparts couldn’t do much.

Flash forward to 13:33, Kelly Bent was sent to the box. Culkin fired a hard shot that appeared to just ring off the top of the crossbar. Later on, Cooper had a shorthanded break was stopped by Callum Booth. The Remparts took the play back the other way and Erne potted a rebound goal to make it a 3-1 game. Cooper received a 10-minute misconduct following the goal.

Shots were 12-7 Quebec in the second period. Pretty good pace for much of the frame but not a lot of scoring.

THIRD PERIOD

Following some four-on-four play, Houde had a partial breakaway but was stopped by Auger. Then Duclair had a breakaway but was stopped as well.

At 9:13, Thomas Chabot headed to the box for slashing. Kurt Etchegary scored some goal to make it a 4-1 game.

Jason Cameron gave the Dogs a chance to stay in this game with a goal at 11:48. It was his first of the season.

But Quebec quickly came back with a goal of their own. Duclair scored at 13:24 to make it a 5-2 game and basically end any hopes of a Saint John comeback.

Some penalties happened after Duclair’s goal. Whatev.

Shots in the third were 11-6 Saint John and 37-28 Sea Dogs overall.

The Dogs went 1-for-7 on the power play while the Remparts went 1-for-6.

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Marcus Cuomo (hand), Joey Richard (healthy), and Juraj Siska (back) along with defensemen Jurij Repe (wrist) and Will Thompson (upper body).

NOTES: It was the annual 'Pink in the Rink' so the Sea Dogs wore special pink jerseys that were raffled off... Remparts defenseman David Hunter is tall… Spencer Smallman had six shots… Anthony Duclair had five shots… Brent Turnbull had three assists… Jason Cameron now has 11 goals in 188 career games... decent crowd of 3,500 at the game. Largest crowd since the Sea Dogs home opener.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Chicoutimi Sagueneens on Sunday afternoon at 3pm at Harbour Station. It’s Mascot Day and also Saint John’s final home game until November 1^st.