RECAP: Sea Dogs win 6-3

FINAL: Saint John 6, Bathurst 3

BATHURST – The Saint John Sea Dogs have finally defeated the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

After losing the first two meetings of the season, the Sea Dogs posted a 6-3 victory over the Titan on Friday night at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

Matthew Highmore, Mathieu Joseph, Cedric Pare, Thomas Chabot, Samuel Leblanc and Samuel Dove-McFalls all had goals for Saint John. Alex D'Orio made 27 saves in the win.

Dawson Theede, Felix Boivin and Christophe Boivin scored for the Titan. Reilly Pickard was pulled after allowing three goals on 15 shots in the first period. Francis Lavallee made 18 saves through the final 40 minutes.

To the notes…

• Highmore opened the scoring at 5:23 of the first, beating Pickard up high on a shorthanded breakaway.
• Theede, the former Sea Dog, tied the game at 6:34.
• Joseph put Saint John back in front at 11:17. The league's leading goal scorer picked up the puck in the neutral zone and made a few nice moves to beat the Bathurst defence. Joseph then beat Pickard top corner to make it 2-1 for the visitors.
• Pare gave the Dogs some insurance at 13:31, sending Saint John to the dressing room up 3-1.
• Felix Boivin scored at 2:08 of the second, cutting Saint John's lead to 3-2. But Chabot scored at 14:30 and Leblanc added another at 17:22 to make it 5-2 Dogs through 40 minutes.
• In the third, Christophe Boivin scored some goal at 5:03 to give Bathurst a chance. But Dove-McFalls put it away at 13:28 to make it a 6-3 final.
• The game got a bit a chippy at the end but nothing crazy happened.
• The game started 10-15 minutes late due to a lighting issue. 
• Joseph and Chabot were both in Saint John’s lineup after playing in both CIBC Canada Russia Series games this past week. 
• D’Orio made his second straight start. 
• The Sea Dogs recalled forward Alexandre Lafreniere from MHL Woodstock before the game.
• According to Tim Roszell on the Sea Dogs pre-game show, Matt Green will miss four to six weeks with an upper body injury. 
• According to head coach Danny Flynn on the Sea Dogs pre-game show, John Warren could be back within two to three weeks while Joe Veleno likely won’t be back until December.
• Highmore now has points in three straight games.
• Bailey Webster and Chase Stewart both missed the third period, leaving Saint John with five defencemen. They ended the game with four after Vincent Martineau had a fight late in the third.
• Bokondji Imama's five-game goal scoring streak came to an end.
• Saint John has won three straight games and picked up points in four straight.
• The Sea Dogs have also scored six of more goals in every game during their winning streak.
• Joseph became the first player in the QMJHL to reach 20 goals this season.

LINEUP

Tonight's #SJSeaDogs forward lines and D pairings. #PortCityRise #TeamDK pic.twitter.com/0XHqr9MISi

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 18, 2016

SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs went with 11 forwards and seven defencemen for this game. Saint John was without Joe Veleno (lower body), John Warren (upper body), Matt Green (upper body), Spencer Smallman (illness), Luke Green (injury) and Alexandre Bernier (illness).

TURNING POINT
It looked like this game might turn out being a typical back-and-forth Titan-Sea Dogs game. But Cedric Pare's goal, which came just over two minutes after Mathieu Joseph put Saint John back in front, seemed to end any thoughts of that.

SN THREE STARS
1. Cedric Pare
2. Thomas Chabot
3. Matthew Highmore

TWEET OF THE GAME
The commish is into it.

Nice way to promote the game https://t.co/zRTvGARJcz

— Gilles Courteau (@gcourteauhockey) November 18, 2016

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take on the Wildcats in Moncton on Sunday at 4 p.m.