FINAL: Saint John 3, Cape Breton 4
SYDNEY, NS – After a spectacular past
few months, the Saint John Sea Dogs will enter the playoffs on a three-game
losing streak.
The Sea Dogs fell again today, losing
4-3 to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles at Centre 200. The game didn’t have any
meaning for the Dogs having already been locked into the QMJHL’s No. 3
seed.
While entering the playoffs on a losing
skid is no doubt disappointing given the success the team had in the second
half, it’s not overly surprising. On Saturday, the Sea Dogs were without Thomas
Chabot, Luke Green, Alex Bernier, Bailey Webster, Matthew Highmore, Mathieu
Joseph and Adam Marsh due to injuries. They were also without Bokondji Imama
who served a one-game suspension for accumulating game misconducts.
Given that all those players were out
today, Saint John played a decent game against a Cape Breton team that sat out
several of their top players. It sounds as though the Dogs should have a few of
those players back on Friday when the team opens up the playoffs, which is good
news.
Matt Murphy, playing in his final regular
season QMJHL game, scored twice for the Sea Dogs while Daniel Del Paggio also
had a goal. Alex Bishop made 40 saves in the loss.
Phelix Martineau, Declan Smith, Peyton
Hoyt and Massimo Carozza scored for Cape Breton. Daryl MacCallum made 32 saves
in the win.
Murphy opened the scoring with a power
play goal at 13:49. A shot from the point deflected off something and beat
MacCallum upstairs to give Saint John a 1-0 advantage.
Cape Breton tied the game at 1:02 of the
second period with a shorthanded goal. Following some sloppy Saint John puck handling and
passing in the neutral zone, Martineau picked up the puck and broke in alone,
beating Bishop with a nice move to his backhand.
Just 2:18 later, Smith picked up his own
rebound and beat Bishop with a wrist shot that went off the post and in to give
Cape Breton a 2-1 advantage.
At 12:08, Martineau threw the puck on
net and Hoyt put in the rebound in to give the Screaming Eagles a 3-1 lead. Then
in the final minute, Murphy ‘s second of the game made it a 3-2 contest heading
into the third.
In the final frame, the Screaming Eagles
restored their two-goal lead at 9:40 when, while on a power play, Carozza put in the rebound of a
Giovanni Fiore shot.
After the Screaming Eagles failed to
score on the empty net, Del Paggio jammed the puck past MacCallum at 19:16 to make
it a one-goal game. But that was as close as the Dogs would get.
NOTES
- The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Thomas Chabot (lower body), Luke Green (upper body), Alex Bernier (upper body) and Bailey Webster (upper body) along with forwards Matthew Highmore (lower body), Mathieu Joseph (upper body), Adam Marsh (upper body) and Bokondji Imama (suspension).
- Green will be reevaluated this week, according to Sea Dogs play-by-play man Tim Roszell. Chabot, Highmore and Joseph are considered day-to-day.
- Vincent Martineau was called up to help fill some of the holes on the backend. According to a tweet from scout Anthony Stella, Martineau finished playing a game in Montreal at 10 p.m. EST last night. Martineau's brother, Phelix Martineau, plays for the Screaming Eagles.
- Nico Blachman had a phone hearing with the league this morning, according to Roszell, following his 10th fight of the season last night. He did not receive a suspension.
- Kallum Muirhead, recalled by Saint John earlier this week, made his QMJHL debut.
- Saint John’s defense pairings, due to injuries: Felixson-Bettez; Murphy-Martineau; Ward-Zboril.
- Along with Pierre-Luc Dubois missing the game due to suspension, the Eagles sat out Maxim Lazarev, Evgeny Svechnikov and Olivier LeBlanc.
- The Sea Dogs finish the regular season with a 42-20-6-0 record.
- This is unfortunate:
TURNING POINTUnfortunate. You never want to see this. pic.twitter.com/0jcKpAvHEg— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) March 19, 2016
Declan Smith’s goal at 3:20 of the
second period – which came just 2:18 after the Screaming Eagles had tied things
at 1-1 – really put some wind in Cape Breton’s sails.
SN PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Phelix Martineau
Matt Murphy
TWEET OF THE GAME
@station_nation if no one else gets hurt this is a win.— Todderick (@ToddJaysFan) March 19, 2016
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs play their first game of
the playoffs on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.
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