Jeremy McKenna, Julien Tessier, Anderson MacDonald and Jacob Hudson all scored in the third period for Moncton, who trailed 2-0 entering the final frame. Matthew Waite made 27 saves in the win.
Kevin Gursoy, Ben Reid and Daniel Hardie all scored for Saint John. Matthew Williams made 38 stops in the loss.
The Wildcats had quite a few bounces not go their way in the opening 40 minutes, while the Sea Dogs had the good fortune of a few good bounces. Saint John will hopefully be able to hang on to leads in the future - but it'll likely be a struggle at times for the rebuilding squad.
The Sea Dogs got on the board first at 11:50 of the opening stanza. Isiah Campbell made a nice feed to Gursoy who was coming quickly down the wing. Gursoy then ripped a wrist shot from near the side boards and beat Waite glove side, making it 1-0.
The Sea Dogs had a terrific chance to make it 2-0 moments later when Reid and Landon Quinney went in on a two-on-one. Reid ended up with the puck last but had his shot denied by the pad of Waite.
The Sea Dogs scored early in the second period – and it was a weird one. The puck went off the back glass, off the top of the net and then off Waite’s back and in. The goal, scored at 3:26, was credited to Reid. The strange goal didn’t seem to rattle Waite too much as the Wildcats' netminder made a nice pad save off of Cole Reginato soon after.
The Wildcats had the better of the chances for much of the second period but just couldn’t finish. A puck even slipped through the pads of Williams but was directed out of the crease area.
Saint John was called for too many men late in the second. On the ensuing penalty kill, Williams came up huge with a sprawling pad save to maintain his shutout through 40 minutes. Soon after, a shot went off the bottom of the post but stayed out.
Just 1:18 into the third period, McKenna scored on a power play to cut Saint John’s lead to 2-1. Then at 4:59, Tessier scored to quickly tie the game at 2-2.
The Wildcats would take the lead on a power play at 15:35 when MacDonald completed a nice passing play, depositing the puck into an open net. Then with 53 seconds remaining, Hudson fired a back hander through some traffic in front and past Williams to make it a 4-2 contest.
Hardie made things interesting late, putting in a loose puck at 19:33 to make it 4-3. But that would be as close as Saint John would come to tying it up.
NOTES: Joe Veleno did not dress for Saint John… the Sea Dogs were without Alex D’Orio, Cedric Pare and Ostap Safin due to NHL camps… Bryson Michel was also announced as a scratch… Joel Goguen was Williams’ backup with D’Orio away… Cole Reginato and Bailey Webster each wore an ‘A’ on their sweater… Josh Dixon coached his first Sea Dogs preseason game. He was joined behind the bench by Jeff Cowan… while the Sea Dogs were the home team, they used the visitors bench at the Aitken Centre… Sea Dogs fans seemed to outnumber Wildcats fans…announced attendance was 2,807... Sea Dogs and Wildcats alumni who currently play for the Varsity Reds performed the ceremonial puck drop.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of the preseason tomorrow night in Halifax against the Mooseheads.
No comments:
Post a Comment