FINAL: Bathurst
1, Saint John 4
Lorne Webster
| SN Staff
SAINT JOHN -
The Saint John Sea Dogs (29-20-3-6) turned in their most complete
60-minute effort in a few weeks and were rewarded with a decisive 4-1 victory
over the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan (15-37-4-2) Sunday afternoon at Harbour
Station.
The
win ended a recent four-game winless streak and also
snapped a three game home winless streak against Bathurst. The win
was critical in the Sea Dogs’ efforts to earn home ice advantage in
the first round of the playoffs, especially as they look forward to important
games this week against division rivals Cape Breton (Tuesday) and Charlottetown
(Friday).
Jakub Zboril,
Mathieu Joseph, Spencer Smallman and Sam Dove-McFalls scored for the Sea Dogs
while Egor Popov replied for Bathurst.
The fans were
buzzing prior to puck drop about the return of Zboril to the line-up and
he showed why he is viewed as a likely first round NHL draft
choice. On a power play at 2:01, Zboril unleashed a laser from the
point that went right through a screened Reilly Pickard to open the
scoring. Just past the ten minute mark, Joseph completed a nice
give-and-go with Dove-McFalls as he beat Pickard over the glove to make it 2-0
for Saint John. The Sea Dogs also led 11-6 on the shot
clock.
On another
power play at 14:22 of the second, Smallman carried the puck to the high slot,
faked a pass and wired a wrist shot to the top corner past a screened Pickard
to extend Saint John's lead to 3-0. However, on the next shift, Sea Dog
nemesis Andrew Ryan muscled his way to the front of the net and his wrist shot
banked off Popov and past Sebastien Auger to bring the Titan back within
two. Saint John outshot the Titan 16-5 in the second
period.
The Sea Dogs
continued their strong play to start the third period and, at 1:28,
Dove-McFalls banged in the rebound of a Thomas Chabot point shot to reestablish
Saint John's three goal lead at 4-1. Saint John’s onslaught of rubber
resulted in another 17 shots on Pickard versus four for Bathurst in the third
to end the game up 44-15 overall.
Jakub Zboril's
power play goal just 2:01 into the game lifted Saint John's confidence and
helped them overcome the pesky Titan.
SN
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
While
Dove-McFalls, Smallman and Zboril were given stars at Harbour
Station, Justice Dundas and Mathieu Joseph showed plenty of jump and spunk
in creating headaches for the Titan defence. Reilly Pickard turned in
another stellar performance for Bathurst.
STATS
NOTES
- Jakub Zboril returned to the line-up in the place of Jason Bell who is nursing a minor lower body injury.
- Forward Adam Marsh (day-to-day with an upper body injury) and defenceman Jack vanBoekel (mono) were unavailable again.
- Boko Imama served the third game of a four game suspension.
- A reported 16 NHL scouts were in attendance at Harbour Station.
NEXT GAMES
The Sea
Dogs travel to Cape Breton for a 7 p.m. start on Tuesday. They then
return home to face the Charlottetown Islanders Friday at 7:30 p.m.
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