FINAL: Sea Dogs lose 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Bathurst 5

BATHURST - With their captain out of the lineup, the Saint John Sea Dogs had a rough night offensively in a 5-2 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Sea Dogs recorded just 10 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes. They had a better third period, putting 13 shots on net.

The team was no doubt a little shaken up after news came out last night that Joe Veleno would be traded in just over a week. Despite that and the offensive struggles, the Sea Dogs stayed in this game for much of the night. They were within one early in the third period but the Titan surged, adding two more in the 5-2 victory.

Saint John's power play also had a better performance than we've seen of late, scoring twice on six opportunities.

Cole Reginato and Ostap Safin scored for Saint John. Matt Williams made 30 saves in the loss.

Antoine Morand scored twice for Bathurst while singles came from Dawson Theede, German Rubtsov and Jeffrey Truchon-Viel. Joseph Murdaca made 21 stops in the win.

Morand opened the scoring just 2:01 into the opening period. Saint John's rough start got even worse at 6;20 when Reginato scored, making it 2-0 Titan.

Reginato got Saint John on the board with a power play goal at 13:53. But Morand would put Bathurst back up by two at 17:07.

After a scoreless second period, Safin faked a pass and beat Murdaca with a wrist shot from the bottom of the circle, making it 3-2. But the Titan would get their insurance back with goals from Rubtsov and Truchon-Viel at 7:22 and 12:42, respectively.

LINEUP

Here is tonight's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs  vs. the @ABTitan brought to you by @CantrburyDental #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/0ujgDd283M

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) December 9, 2017

SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs were without defencemen Brendan Sibley (healthy) and Alexis Girard (upper body); and forwards Joe Veleno (upper body), Nick Deakin-Poot (upper body), Kevin Gursoy (upper body), Landon Quinney (lower body) and Luke Wilson (healthy).

According to Tim Roszell on the pre-game show, Girard, Gursoy and Quinney could all be good to go tomorrow against Gatineau.

NOTES
The Sea Dogs recalled forwards Ben Reid and Aiden MacIntosh from the MHL's St. Stephen Aces... Cedric Pare took Joe Veleno's spot on the top line... Brendan O'Reilly was injured just a few minutes into the game but did return... Cole Reginato scored his first goal since Oct. 29.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take on the Gatineau Olympiques tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m. at Harbour Station.