RECAP: Sea Dogs win 5-4

FINAL: Saint John 5, Cape Breton 4

SYDNEY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs seem to enjoy playing at Centre 200.

The Sea Dogs picked up another win in Sydney this season - their second - on Wednesday night, defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 5-4.

Williams Poirier scored a pair of goals while singles came from Samuel Leblanc, Matt Green and Thomas Ashe. Nick Deakin-Poor had two assists. Matt Williams made 27 stops in the win.

It was a solid road win by the Sea Dogs, who have now won two of their past three games - a good stretch for a team that has won six games all season.

It was nice to see some of the Saint John's secondary scoring step up in this game - and it was nice to see the Sea Dogs win a game through even strength scoring. Saint John's penalty kill also came through when it had to, especially in the third period.

Both the Sea Dogs and Screaming Eagles were missing regulars due to suspensions and injuries.

Cape Breton had two goals from Brooklyn Kalmikov and solo markers from Jordan Ty Fournier and Leon Gawanke. Kyle Jessiman allowed five goals on 15 shots in just under 40 minutes of play. Kevin Mandolese stopped all seven shots he faced in relief.

Just 27 seconds into the game, Declan Smith spun and fed Fournier in front who beat Williams. That made it 1-0 Cape Breton on the team's first shot of the game.

Saint John tied things up at 19:12 when Leblanc beat Jessiman clean with a wrist shot low glove side.

The Screaming Eagles would head to the dressing room with a lead thanks to a goal from Kalmikov at 19:47. Phelix Martineau fired the original shot that produced a rebound for Kalmikov to score and put Cape Breton back in front.

Saint John tied things up again at 5:28 of the second when Nick Deakin-Poot made a nice spinning pass to Matt Green who was left alone, beating Jessiman with a wrist shot.

At 6:35, Ashe, making his QMJHL debut, fired a shot from the near the line that went through some traffic and past Jessiman, giving Saint John a 3-2 advantage.

Saint John made it 4-2 at 16:50. With Leblanc in the box, Anthony Boucher picked up an Eagles turnover and fed Poirier. The Sea Dogs forward went in alone and beat Jessiman with a nice backhand shot.

Cape Breton got back within one at 17:41 when Kalmikov netted his second, putting in a rebound in close. The Dogs would get their two-goal lead back quickly though thanks to Poirier. At 18:28, a failed clearing attempt by Gawanke was picked up by Deakin-Poot who quickly fired a a pass to Poirier. That made it 5-3 and ended Jessiman's night in net.

Well this is a weird one pic.twitter.com/Tln1MZuef6

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) November 23, 2017

Cape Breton got back within one with a power play goal at 8:16. A low wrist shot through some traffic beat Williams, making it 5-4.

The Eagles outshot the Sea Dogs 16-5 in the third and they had some quality chances to tie it up. Saint John's penalty kill came through on a few occasions, especially in the final minute when Poirier was sent off for delay of game.

LINEUP

Tonight's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs brought to you by @CantrburyDental #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/WlHZae5omx

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 22, 2017

SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Alex D'Orio (lower body); defencemen Brendan O'Reilly (upper body) and Samuel Duchesne (suspension); and forwards Robbie Burt (suspension), Cole Reginato (suspension) and Alexandre Lafreniere (healthy).

NOTES
Defenceman Thomas Ashe made his QMJHL debut... Matt Williams made his third straight start with Alex D'Orio still hurt... Matt Green has three goals in his past five games... Samuel Leblanc scored his first goal since Oct. 22 - which was also against Cape Breton... Brooklyn Kalmikov has three goals against Saint John this season... the Sea Dogs have scored shorthanded goals in back-to-back games... the Eagles were also missing a few regulars due to injuries and suspensions -  most notably Drake Batherson... the Sea Dogs don't play in Cape Breton again until Jan. 31... the Sea Dogs won 40 of 68 faceoffs... four of Saint John's six wins this season have come on the road.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at 7 p.m.