Sunday, February 21, 2016

RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 6-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Val-d’Or 6
VAL-D’OR, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs’ three-game road through Quebec came to a rough end on Saturday night.

A three-goal second period propelled the Val-d’Or Foreurs past the Sea Dogs by a final score of 6-2 at the Air Creebec Centre. Julien Gauthier scored a pair of goals while singles came from Anthony Richard, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Filip Pyrochta and Olivier Galipeau. Etienne Montpetit made 28 saves in the victory.

Jakub Zboril and Adam Marsh scored for Saint John. Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 33 saves while Alex Bishop made three stops.

With the loss, the Sea Dogs finish their incredibly difficult Quebec road trip with a 1-2-0-0 record – which really isn’t all that bad.

Saint John opened the scoring at 12:14. Following an offensive zone faceoff win by Nathan Noel, the puck came back to Thomas Chabot who fed Zboril. The Boston Bruins prospect one timed a quick slap shot through some traffic and past Montpetit to make it 1-0 Sea Dogs.

With Kyle Ward in the box for hooking, the Foreurs quickly tied the game. At 15:11, Anthony Beauregard was behind the net and had all the time in the world to find an open Galipeau in front, tying things at 1-1 after 20 minutes.

The Foreurs took their first lead of the game at 4:47 of the second when Richard sniped his 36th goal of the season past a stretched out Turcotte.

Val-d’Or spent much of the first half of the second period on the power play. Saint John was able to kill all of them off but were outshot 16-7 in the frame.

At 18:10, the Foreurs extended their lead to 3-1. Gauthier dropped the puck to Richard who then fed it back to Gauthier in front of the net, beating Turcotte in close. Then with 11 seconds remaining in the period, Aube-Kubel sped past the Saint John defense and beat Turcotte glove side to make it a 4-1 contest.

At 7:40 of the third, Marsh sped past the Val-d’Or defense and beat Montpetit with a wrist shot to get Saint John back in it. But less than two minutes later at 9:10, Richard made a cross ice feed to an open Gauthier who made it 5-2.

Pyrochta made it 6-2 with a power play goal at 13:59, beating Turcotte from with a wrist shot from the top of the circle. That ended Turcotte’s night as Bishop took over net duties.

Things were a little feisty throughout the game. Finally, during a stoppage in play at 14:19, Bokondji Imama and David Henley dropped the gloves for a fight.

NOTES
  • The Sea Dogs were without Bailey Webster (upper body), Cole Reginato (healthy), Nico Blachman (healthy) and Gabriel Bettez (healthy).
  • This was Saint John’s final game in Quebec this regular season.
  • Jakub Zboril scored his first goal since Jan. 15 and his second goal since Nov. 4.
  • The Sea Dogs lost just their fifth game in regulation time when scoring first.
  • Val-d’Or picked up their 23rd home win in their 29th home game.
  • The Foreurs definitely were not afraid to make contact with Marc-Antoine Turcotte throughout the contest.
  • Speaking of Turcotte, he started all three games of this road trip.
  • Bokondji Imama’s fight with David Henley was just his fourth of the season and his first since the infamous Kelly Bent tilt.
  • Adam Marsh now has points in eight straight road games. He also has six goals in his past six games.
  • Nathan Noel struggled in the faceoff circle, winning two of 13 draws.
  • Saint John’s lead in the Maritimes Division is now three points over the Moncton Wildcats. However, the Sea Dogs still have two games in-hand. The Wildcats host the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon.

TURNING POINT
Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s goal with 11 seconds left in the second period – which made it 4-1 Val-d’Or – really put the game in favour of the Foreurs.

SN PLAYER OF THE GAME
Julien Gauthier. He is quite good at the sport of hockey.

TWEET OF THE GAME
The penalty boxes in Val-d’Or really are just bizarre.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host Kelly Bent and the Halifax Mooseheads on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

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