The Saint John Sea Dogs lost yet another one-goal game on Thursday night at Harbour Station, falling 5-4 to the Sherbrooke Phoenix in Quebec Major Junior Hockey league action.
Saint John is now 4-12-4-1 on the season and have dropped four straight. The record is painful enough, but adding to that pain is the fact that 10 of Saint John's 17 losses this season have been decided by a single goal.
Thursday's game was like so many others. The Sea Dogs weren't terrific - both teams were quite sloppy - and there were certainly areas for improvement, but this was a winnable game right until the end. It was a back-and-forth contest with a few lead changes, ending with Nicolas Poulin's late third period goal.
Poulin had two goals for Sherbrooke while singles came from Yaroslav Alexeyev, Hugo Roy and Benjamin Tardif. Evan Fitzpatrick made 31 stops in the win.
The Phoenix ended a seven-game losing streak with the victory.
Anthony Boucher, Matt Green, Kevin Gursoy and Radim Salda scored for Saint John. Alex D'Orio made 34 saves in the loss.
Sherbrooke opened the scoring at 6:18 of the first period when Alexeyev capitalized on a Saint John turnover behind D'Orio's net.
It was a back-and-forth opening frame with shots ending 15-13 in favour of Sherbrooke. D'Orio made several big saves on a few scrambles throughout the period.
The Sea Dogs tied things up at 1:42 of the second period during some four-on-four play. Joe Veleno drove to the net and Boucher picked up the garbage, beating a fallen Fitzpatrick.
Saint John then took the lead while shorthanded at 8:50. William Poirier grabbed the puck along the boards and fired it to an open Green. The forward walked into the slot and beat Fitzpatrick five-hole, giving the Dogs a 2-1 advantage.
After some strong offensive pressure by the Phoenix, the visitors tied it up at 12:41. A loose puck at the side of the goal fell behind D'Orio and went in. Roy was given credit for the goal.
Not long after at 14:08, Poulin scored to put Sherbrooke back in front, 3-2.
Just 1:52 into the third period, Tardif came down the wing and beat D'Orio blocker side, giving the Phoenix a two-goal advantage.
The Sea Dogs would climb back though. At 4:19, a loose puck went into the slot where Gursoy wristed a shot past Fitzpatrick, making it a 4-3 contest.
Then at 5:32 and with Saint John on a power play, Salda was in the circle and fired a rebound into the net before Fitzpatrick could slide over. That tied things up at 4-4.
Just when the game seemed destined for extra time, Poulin entered the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot past the glove of D'Orio, giving Sherbrooke a late 5-4 lead with 2:07 to play.
Any chance of a Saint John comeback was harmed when Cole Reginato took a penalty at 18:12. The Dogs pulled D'Orio to even play up, but they could not even the score up.
LINEUP
SCRATCHESHere is tonight's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs against the visiting @PhoenixSherbroo brought to you by @CantrburyDental #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/SaqnrK30Ot— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 9, 2017
The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Matt Williams (lower body); defenceman Marcus Tesink (healthy); and forwards Cedric Pare (upper body), Samuel Leblanc (healthy) and Alexandre Lafreniere (healthy).
NOTES
Stewart Bagnell was Alex D'Orio's backup once again with Matt Williams still injured... Cedric Pare missed his second straight game with a minor upper body injury. He is day-to-day... Saint John dressed seven defenceman for warm up. Marcus Tesink was the odd man out... Sea Dogs equipment manager David "DK" Kelly worked his 800th game with the club... referee Jeff Hopkins worked his 500th game... Saint John has scored first in just four of their 21 games this season... the Sea Dogs held their annual Remembrance Day ceremony before puck drop... Anthony Boucher and Radim Salda each had a goal and an assist... Joe Veleno had two assists... this was the first game of a three-in-three through the Maritimes for Sherbrooke.
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Baie-Comeau Drakkar tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
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