Recap: Sea Dogs win 2-1

FINAL: Bathurst 1, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs opened the 2018 pre-season with a victory.

Connor Richard and Kevin Mason scored in the Sea Dogs' 2-1 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at Harbour Station. Tommy DaSilva and Stewart Bagnell combined for 19 saves in the win.

The Sea Dogs were predictably sloppy at times but carried much of the play, outshooting the Titan 34-20. Saint John dressed a mix of 2018 draft picks, free agents and a few returning players.

Saint John opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal at 11:27 of the first. Richard grabbed the puck at the blue line and went in on a breakaway, pulling off a nice toe drag and beating Titan netminder Andrew MacLeod upstairs.

The Sea Dogs had some quality chances early in the second but could not capitalize. First, Yohan Plamondon and Ben Reid had a two-on-one but the puck was stolen on a pass through the crease. Then, Jeremie Jacob had a short breakaway but was denied by the pad of MacLeod.

Saint John took a 2-0 lead at 4:48 of the the third. Brady Burns carried the puck behind the net and then skated out front, dishing a nice pass through the blue paint to an open Mason who scored.

The Titan got on the board at 7:05 of the final frame. Logan Timmons sped through the Saint John defence and beat Bagnell five-hole to make it a 2-1 game.

DaSilva stopped all eight shots in faced in 31:39 of action. Bagnell stopped 11 the rest of the way.

MacLeod played the full 60 minutes for Bathurst and made 32 saves in the loss.

LINEUP
Burns - Prikryl - Mason
Plamondon - Lawrence - Reid
Richard - Jacob - Dumont
White - Duchesne - O'Neill

Girard - Villeneuve
J. Poirier - Larose
Higgins - Pilon
Kakouras

DaSilva
Bagnell

NOTES: The anthem singer had to sing from the penalty box after the carpet had already been rolled up and put away... there were four 2018 first round picks playing in this game: William Villeneuve (2nd), Jeremie Poirier (8th), Benjamin Roode (14th) and Josh Lawrence (15th)... Saint John dressed eight players from their 2018 draft class, including all three first rounders... like in this week's scrimmages, the Sea Dogs put rookies with experience on the backend, pairing Villeneuve with Alexis Girard and Poirier with Nathan Larose... the Titan didn't have their 2018 Memorial Cup patches on their jerseys, which most Memorial Cup attending teams have the following pre-season... announced attendance for the game, which was free to attend, was 4,291.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Titan in Bathurst on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.