RECAP: Sea Dogs win 5-1

FINAL: Cape Breton 1, Saint John 5

Lorne Webster | SN Staff

SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs avenged a tough overtime loss in Sydney last weekend by skating to a 5-1 win over the visiting Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Sunday at Harbour Station

Nathan Noel led the way with two goals and one assist. Mathieu Joseph, Julien Gauthier and Samuel Dove-McFalls added singles for the Sea Dogs. Callum Booth had 19 saves to earn the win.

Mathias Laferriere replied for Cape Breton. Kyle Jessiman stopped 31 shots in the loss.

NOTES

• The Sea Dogs opened the scoring - while on a power play at 3:11 - when Noel unloaded a heavy slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle that beat Jessiman over his glove.
• The Sea Dogs went up 2-0 - on another power play at 14:17 - when Joseph corralled a rebound near the goal line and snapped the puck to the top shelf.
• Laferriere got Cape Breton on the board - while on a power play at 4:38 of the second - when he one-timed a rebound past Booth from the left face-off circle.
• The Sea Dogs responded at 6:08 as Gauthier took a drop pass from Noel in the high slot and unloaded a rocket off the post and in.
• The Sea Dogs' penalty kill came up large midway through the third as they killed off a major penalty - which also included a full two minutes of skating three against five.
• Noel put Saint John up by three on a power play at 17:31 as he unleashed a laser beam over Jessiman's shoulder from the left face-off dot.
• Dove-McFalls capped the scoring just over twenty seconds later with a shot through Jessiman's legs.
• Noel's 85th career goal moved him past Ryan Sparling and Zach Phillips and into sixth place on Saint John's all-time scoring list. Also, Noel now has 205 points which moved him past current Ottawa Senator Chris DiDomenico for seventh in Sea Dogs history.
• Captain Spencer Smallman played in his 289th game to pass Mike Thomas for the most games played in Sea Dogs history.
• Prior to the national anthem, the Sea Dogs and their fans acknowledged former captain Olivier Leblanc for playing in his final regular season game at Harbour Station in his impressive five-year QMJHL career.

LINEUP

Today's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs brought to you by @CantrburyDental Remember #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/XqUgKoWcgq

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 5, 2017

SCRATCHES
Oliver Felixson and Matt Green were out with upper body issues. Chase Stewart took the warmup but was held out. Samuel Leblanc was a healthy scratche.

TURNING POINT
The Sea Dogs' ability to kill off a major penalty and another minor midway through the third was massive.

SN STARS OF THE GAME
1. Nathan Noel
2. Simon Bourque
3. Olivier Leblanc

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. Please note that the originally scheduled start time was 8 p.m.