GAME 4 RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 6-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Bathurst 6

By Lorne Webster | SN Staff

BATHURST - In a do or die game for Acadie-Bathurst, Daniil Miromanov put on a show with four goals to lead the Titan to a 6-3 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs Wednesday evening at the KC Irving Regional Centre. With the loss, the Sea Dogs will return home with a 3-1 lead in the first round playoff series.

Christophe Boivin and Jordan Maher also scored for Bathurst. Jeffrey Truchon-Viel added four assists and Reilly Pickard had 40 saves in the victory. Matt Murphy, Nathan Noel and Samuel Dove-McFalls replied for Saint John. 

1st Period

With their backs solidly against the wall, the Titan played arguably their most complete period of the playoffs thus far. Miromanov got Bathurst off to a fast start when - on the first shot 21 seconds into the game - he took a pass from Guillaume Brisebois and ripped a wrist shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle which beat Marc-Antoine Turcotte high on the short side. Then at 12:42, Miromanov banged the rebound of a Mark Simpson shot past Turcotte to extend Bathurst's lead to 2-0. The Titan also did an effective job of playing five in the box in front of Pickard to frustrate the Sea Dogs and take their 2-0 lead into the first intermission.

2nd Period

It was lucky 21s (or deja vu all over again) for Bathurst to open the middle frame - as just 21 seconds into the second a Titan point shot was blocked but went directly to Boivin on the left wing who snapped a shot past a screened Turcotte to make it 3-0 for the hosts. A little over two minutes later, the Titan capitalized on a neutral zone turnover. At 2:50, Maher finished off a two-on-one break with Vladimir Kuznetsov with a laser over Turcotte's blocker to give the Titan a four goal lead. After that goal, head coach Danny Flynn called a timeout and replaced Turcotte in goal with Alex Bishop.  The Sea Dogs came on strong after the timeout with 16 straight shots on goal. While skating four-on-four at 5:51, Murphy one-timed a cross ice feed from Thomas Chabot past Pickard to get Saint John on the board. Chabot, who logged a ton of ice-time, went postal at 12:30. On a power play at 14:07, Nathan Noel's cross crease pass deflected off a Titan defender past Pickard to bring the Sea Dogs within two after two. 

   

3rd Period

The Sea Dogs controlled much of the play to start the final period but Pickard came up big early and often. At 8:44, Miromanov took a feed in the slot and unloaded a heavy snap shot over Bishop's glove for his hat trick goal to give the Titan a 5-2 lead. At the start of a power play with over five minutes remaining, Flynn decided to roll the dice and pull Bishop. Despite heavy pressure, the Sea Dogs could not get a puck past Pickard until 17:40 when Dove-McFalls deflected a Chabot point shot into the Titan net. However, Miromanov completed his four-goal night with an empty net goal to quell the Sea Dog's comeback attempt.  

NOTES

• Overage Titan centre - and Rothesay native - Mark Simpson will leave extremely large skates to fill in the faceoff circle for Bathurst. Simpson, who takes nearly half of all faceoffs for the Titan, ended the night 15/25 (of 61 face-offs in total). That was on the heals of Game 1 - 18/34 (of 72), Game 2 - 22/35 (of 56) and Game 3 - 17/25 (of 55).
• Sea Dogs defenceman Jakub Zboril suffered a minor injury on Tuesday and missed the third period of game three. However, he felt better on Wednesday and was in the opening lineup for Saint John.
• Former Sea Dog Jason Bell saw his first action in the series as he replaced Francis Thibeault for Bathurst's only lineup change.
• Defencemen Luke Green (upper body), Bailey Webster (upper body) and Alex Bernier (upper body) along with forwards Adam Marsh (upper body), Nico Blachman, Cedric Pare and Jordan King all sat out for the Sea Dogs. Green is very close to returning and Webster is getting closer to a long awaited return as well. Marsh and Bernier are still out long term.
• In light of recent concussion issues to their young star goaltender, the Titan brass likely should find a way to get a mask to stay on Reilly Pickard's head. It popped off easily when he collided with a referee in game two and it popped off two or three times on Wednesday.
• It's nice that Rogers TV allows Bathurst super fans to broadcast Titan games. It makes the Sea Dogs faithful really appreciate professionals like Tim Roszell and Aaron Kennedy. 

TURNING POINT

A pair of goals by Daniil Miromanov and Jordan Maher before the three-minute mark of the second period staked Bathurst to a four-goal lead, which proved to be too big a mountain for the Sea Dogs to climb.

HIT OF THE GAME

Late in the third period, Bokondji Imama caught Garrett Johnston with a huge hit in the corner, which appeared to knock the wind out of Bathurst's overage defenceman. 

SN PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Daniil Miromanov

Reilly Pickard

Thomas Chabot

TWEET OF THE NIGHT

@SN_Canucklehead took this photo specially for the divers haha pic.twitter.com/VfDdZW7l0s

— Lisa (@NBMaritimes) March 30, 2016

NEXT GAME
Game five of the best-of-seven first round playoff series is slated for Friday evening at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station. For Sea Dogs Season Ticket Holders, this will playoff home game No. 3.