RECAP: Dogs Win 5-4 (SO)

FINAL: Charlottetown 4, Saint John 5 (SO)

SAINT JOHN – Nathan Noel scored the only goal of the shootout in a 5-4 Saint John Sea Dogs victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Wednesday night at Harbour Station.

Mark Tremaine, Adam Marsh, Mathieu Joseph, and Olivier LeBlanc had regulation time goals for Saint John. Tremaine added two assists. Sebastien Auger got the start once again in the Dogs crease and made 30 stops in the win.

Charlottetown had a pair of goals from Alexandre Goulet while singles came from Kameron Kielly and Luc Deschenes. Mason McDonald made 30 saves in the loss.

Saint John opened the scoring at 5:27 of the first. Justice Dundas grabbed the puck behind the Islanders and quickly fed it out in front to Tremaine who scored to make it 1-0.

The Isles went to the power play at 5:44 and had a plethora of chances but could not connect. They held puck possession for much of the play after the penalty expired.

Saint John went to the man advantage at 13:02 and created a few chances of their own. Mitchell Dempsey was in front but was stopped by the pads of McDonald. Then, Luke Green walked in from the blue line and was left alone but was stopped by the Charlottetown netminder.

With 2:49 left, the Isles scored at the same time the net came off its pipes. It was called no goal, and after a brief review, officially declared no goal.

Shots in the first were 10-8 in favour of the Islanders.

At 1:59 of the second, David Henley was sent to the box for four minutes for interference and unsportsmanlike conduct. Marsh gave the Dogs a 2-0 lead at 5:00 on a wrist shot through a screen.

At 5:18, Dundas was given a five minute major for head butting. Then at 5:54, Adam Bateman was given a tripping penalty which was followed by an Oliver Cooper interference penalty at 6:19. On the power play, Sprong fired a one time shot from the top of the circle to make it a 2-1 contest.

Charlottetown tied things up at 12:16. Deschenes was given the puck at the point and he fired a shot past Auger to make it a 2-2 game.

Later on in the period, Spencer Smallman had a great chance in front but missed the top corner.

Charlottetown was given yet another five-on-three advantage late in the period. Out of the box, Tremaine went in alone but couldn’t get a great shot off on McDonald.

Shots in the second period were 14-13 in favour of the Dogs.

Early in the third, Noel riffled a shot off McDonald and the post but the puck stayed out.

At 2:41, Joseph beat McDonald to put Saint John up 3-2. But soon after at 5:46, a Dexter Weber shot was stopped by Auger but Goulet put in the rebound to make it a 3-3 contest.

The Dogs had a great opportunity at 8:26 to pull in front as Samuel Dove-McFalls was hooked up a bit and awarded a penalty shot. But on his attempt, McDonald stopped the backhand attempt of the Dogs second-year forward.

Julien Tessier was sent off at 13:49 for tripping. On the ensuing power play, Goulet scored a scramble in the Sea Dogs crease to give Charlottetown their first led of the evening.

The Dogs tied things back up at 16:15 as a LeBlanc point shot went through some traffic and fooled McDonald top corner to make it 4-4.

Soon after, Ryan MacKinnon had the puck at the offensive blue line but lost his balance, allowing Marsh to grab it and go in on a breakaway. Unfortunately for the Dogs, the rookie forward missed the net.

The Isles were given yet another power play at 17:14 but the Dogs were able to kill it off.

Shots in the third were 11-8 in favour of the Isles.

Will Thompson was sent off for boarding at 1:27 of overtime. Despite some offensive zone pressure, the Dogs were unable to create many scoring opportunities and overtime continued.

Shots in overtime were 4-0 in favour of Saint John.

In the shootout, Noel was the fourth shooter overall and came in flying. He fired a low shot past McDonald to give the Dogs the lead. Filip Chlapik had to score to keep things going but was poked checked by Auger, giving Saint John the extra point.

TURNING POINT

Noel’s shootout goal, I guess.

SN THREE STARS

3. Sea Dogs intro video – pretty sweet

2. Jakub Zboril’s shot

1. Mark Tremaine

TWEET OF THE GAME

Scouts galore @harbourstation tonight for @SeaDogsHockey Even @TSNHockey @CraigJButton is here. #godogsgo pic.twitter.com/rDzPhreT5F
— Chris Tobin (@c_tobin6) October 1, 2014

Craig Button city.

STATS

NOTES

• Sea Dogs scratches were forwards Matthew Highmore and Alex Kealey; defenseman Jack vanBoekel; and goaltender Blade Mann-Dixon.
• Forward Adam Marsh returned to the Saint John lineup.
• There were a ton of scouts at the game. Plenty of young talent on both teams.
• Oliver Cooper’s visor popped off in the second period.
• Premier-to-be Brian Gallant was also reportedly at the game.
• There has yet to be a penalty shot goal in the league this season.
• Third straight Sea Dogs game that has featured a penalty shot. Weird.
• Mason McDonald looked real shaky at times in this game. Bobbled the puck a lot, didn’t see some shots, and just missed the puck at times.
• Jeff Cowan made a great catch on the Dogs bench during overtime.
• This was the second Sea Dogs-Islanders game of the season to go to a shootout. The season opener between the two at Eastlink Centre also went to a breakaway contest.
• The Zamboni's had some problems before the shootout.

NEXT GAME

The Sea Dogs travel to Sydney to battle the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday at 7 p.m.