RECAP: So Close. Dogs Lose 3-2.

FINAL: Saint John 2, Blainville-Boisbriand 3 (OT)

BOISBRIAND, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs’ road trip came to end in heartbreaking fashion on Sunday night against the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s top team.

Daniel Walcott scored at 4:25 of overtime to give the St. John’s Fog Devils Montreal Junior Blainville-Boisbriand Armada a 3-2 victory over the Sea Dogs at the Arena-With-A-Really-Long-Name.

Much like Saturday’s game in Quebec City, the Sea Dogs were certainly good enough to pick up the win in this game. But unfortunately for the Dogs, the Armada were able to score first in OT and pick up the extra point.

Oliver Cooper and Noah Zilbert scored for the Sea Dogs. Sebastien Auger was excellent in net and made 35 saves in the loss.

Nikita Jevpalovs, Marc-Olivier Roy, and Walcott had goals for the league leading Armada. Samuel Montembeault made 21 stops in the win.

FIRST PERIOD

Saint John opened the scoring just 1:14 in. Matthew Highmore’s backhand shot was stopped but Oliver Cooper potted the rebound in front of the crease to give the Dogs an early lead.

At 1:59, Lukas Walter and Joseph Strong dropped the gloves for a good tilt.

Soon after the fight, Marc-Olivier Roy came down the wing with some speed and cut in front, forcing Sebastien Auger to make a nice stop. Later on, Roy had an open cage but was robbed by the pad of Auger.

The Armada went to the power play at 5:51 as David Weckworth was called for holding. Nikita Jevpalovs finished off a nice passing play with a shot from the dot that beat Auger to tie things up at 1-1 at 6:16.

Daniel Walcott and Cooper collided knee-on-knee soon after the goal. Cooper was in some pain but would be okay. Then, Olivier LeBlanc put a big hit on Samuel Tremblay. Aaron Hoyles stepped in and fought LeBlanc at 8:51. Hoyles got an instigator while LeBlanc was taken off for checking to the head.

Saint John went to the power play at 11:04 but couldn’t get many shots off despite some good pressure applied. The Armada then went to the power play 16:35 but couldn’t generate any chances.

Late in the period, Samuel Dove-McFalls was in front of the net but sent a rebound off Samuel Montembeault’s pad wide of the goal.

Shots were 13-5 Blainville-Boisbriand in the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD

LeBlanc fired a point shot that was stopped by Montembeault. A scrum ensued with Kelly Bent and Walcott sort of fighting.

A little later on, Cooper performed a wraparound move was robbed by the toe of Montembeault.

Weckworth took his second penalty of the game at 12:21. Just three seconds after his penalty ended, Samuel Hodhod found Roy in the slot. He made no mistake to make it 2-1 Armada.

Blainville-Boisbriand went to another power play at 15:05. Auger made a big blocker save off of Ryan Tesink which would be the Armada’s best scoring chance.

The Dogs were awarded a late power play at 19:31 which carried over into the third.

Shots were 10-10 in the second stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

The Sea Dogs had some pressure on during the power play that carried over but could not tie things up. Soon after, Joseph made a nice move around an Armada defenseman but had his shot stopped.

Christopher Clapperton than hit the crossbar. That was followed by Nikita Jevpalovs shooting high on a down Auger.

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 8:31. Six seconds later, Walcott was called for high sticking to send the Sea Dogs to a lengthy five-on-three advantage. At 10:19, Highmore’s cross crease pass to Cooper went off his skate and right to Zilbert in the slot. Zilbert scored to tie things up at 2-2.

The Armada then went to the power play at 16:37 but the Dogs managed to kill it off.

Then at 19:36, Weckworth took his third minor of the game – this one for holding – to give Blainville-Boisbriand a power play to kick off overtime.

Shots were 10-8 Armada in the third.

OVERTIME

The Armada had some great pressure on during their power play in OT but Auger was better.

Later on, Joseph had a partial break but was partially held up and ran into the net. There was no call on the play which didn’t make the Saint John bench very happy.

At 4:25, Walcott netted the winner to give the Armada a 3-2 advantage.

Shots were 5-0 Blainville-Boisbriand in OT and 38-23 overall.

Saint John went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Armada went 1-for-6.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Wildcats on Wednesday night at the Moncton Coliseum.