FINAL: Sea Dogs lose 3-2 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 2, Shawinigan 3 (OT)

SHAWINIGAN, Que. - The Saint John Sea Dogs suffered their third loss in as many days on Saturday, going winless on their first Quebec road trip of the season.

In an early Saturday match, the Sea Dogs blew a 2-0 first period lead at the Gervais Auto Centre, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Shawinigan Cataractes.

Saint John's power play had another strong performance, going 2/3 on the day. Saint John's strong start to the game was offset by a bad finish. The Dogs were outshot 19-5 in the third period and allowed the game-winning goal just 52 seconds into overtime.

Adding to the pain of this loss was that Shawinigan's game-winner came off the stick of Cameron Askew, the overage player who could fit into Saint John's lineup. Askew doesn't appear to be heading to the Port City at this time.

Gabriel Sylvestre and Antoine Demers also scored for the Cataractes. Lucas Fitzpatrick made 30 stops in the win.

Ostap Safin and Joe Veleno had Saint John goals. Safin opened the scoring just 1:54 into the game and Veleno scored with 10 seconds remaining in the first.

Alex D'Orio made 32 stops in the loss.

Saint John remains last overall in the QMJHL standings with a 4-11-4-1 record for 13 points. Even worse, Saint John's league low .325 win percentage is .087 below the team that sits above them in the standings.

This road trip, which was against teams that surround the Sea Dogs in the bottom of the standings, was a big chance for the squad to gain some ground. The hole Saint John finds themselves in now will be difficult to climb out of.

LINEUP

Forwards:
Gursoy - Veleno - Safin
Reginato - Green - Leblanc
Poirier - Boucher - Burt
Hardie - Lafreniere - Quinney

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 4, 2017

Defense:
Salda - Smith
Girard - Webster
Duchesne - Tesink

Starting Goaltender:
Alex D'Orio

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 4, 2017

SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Matt Williams (lower body); defenceman Nathan Larose (healthy); and forwards Cedric Pare (upper body), Nick Deakin-Poot (healthy) and Isiah Campbell (healthy).

According to Tim Roszell, Pare is day-to-day with a minor upper body injury.

NOTES
The Sea Dogs have now lost seven straight road games...Ostap Safin and Anthony Boucher each had two assists... Joe Veleno has two goals in his past three games... Stewart Bagnell was Alex D'Orio's back up with Matt Williams still out... the Sea Dogs scored first for just the fourth time this season... Shawinigan was awarded just one power play all game.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Thursday at 7 p.m.