The Sea Dogs allowed six goals in the first period in a 10-1 blowout loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Saturday night at Harbour Station.
Bathurst's Cole Rafuse netted four in the first period; Felix-Antoine Drolet had two goals; and singles came from Domenic Malatesta, Michal Ivan, Marc-Andre LeCouffe and Noah Dobson. Titan goaltender Mark Grametbauer wasn't tested too much, stopping 21 shots in the win.
A rebuilding team like the Sea Dogs is going to have nights like this one - and this was one of those nights. Pretty much nothing went right for Saint John. They gave No. 1 netminder Alex D'Orio the night off only to put him in in the second; the Dogs once again had a bad first period; and Saint John allowed four power play goals on seven chances.
Brady Burns scored for Saint John. Tommy DaSilva, making his season debut, allowed six goals on 16 shots in the first period. D'Orio allowed four goals on 25 shots the rest of the way.
Carson Gallant got things started with a massive open ice hit on Liam Leonard. The Titan rookie had a hard time getting to his feet and stumbled off to the bench. Liam Murphy then dropped the gloves with Gallant while Titan head coach Bryon Lizotte expressed his displeasure about the non-call to the officials.
Bathurst got some redemption at 7:20 with a power play goal. A shot was blocked in front which allowed Evan MacKinnon to toss the puck in front for Rafuse who had an open net to make it 1-0.The Carson Gallant hit. Massive. pic.twitter.com/Mpxhclcxqx— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) September 29, 2018
The Titan made it 2-0 at 10:27, scoring on a bizarre three-on-none. Drolet completed the play, jamming the puck past DaSilva's pad.
At 12:16, Rafuse scored hid second. Then at 12:36, Rafuse completed the first period hat trick, beautifully redirecting a shot past a surprised DaSilva.
Things got even worse for Saint John at 12:56 when Nathan Larose was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a board on Murphy. On the ensuring power play ay 14:07, Ivan fired a point shot through traffic and past DaSilva to make it 5-0. Then at 15:50, MacKinnon sent a perfect cross crease pass to Rafuse who scored his fourth of the period to make it 6-0.
Bathurst made it 7-0 at 4:32 of the second period on a power play. Dobson had the puck and ripped a shot over the shoulder of D'Orio - who took over for DaSilva to start the middle frame - to extend the Titan's lead.
Saint John got on the board at 6:18 when Burns scored his second of the year. But the momentum was short-lived as Dobson found LeCouffe back door at 8:45, making it 8-1.
Bathurst scored again at 13:56 to make it a 9-1 game. Alexis Sansfacon carried the puck down low and threw it out front to Malatesta who slid the puck under D'Orio.
The Titan nearly reached double digits with 6:18 remaining in the third. A shot went behind D'Orio and off both posts but stayed out. But, with 5:47 to go, they would reach double digits. A cross crease pass by Drolet went off of Gallant's skate and past the Dogs netminder, making it 10-1.
With 4:36 remaining, Daniil Vertiy was taken down by Charlie DesRoches on a breakaway and was awarded a penalty shot. On his free chance, Vertiy was stopped by the glove of D'Orio.
LINES
NOTES: With William Poirier suspended, Yohan Plamondon joined Josh Lawrence and Maxim Cajkovic on the top line... Saint John went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen... the Sea Dogs wore their black third jerseys for the second time this season... Tommy DaSilva made his first start since March 17... the Titan scored seven goals in a first period against the Halifax Mooseheads last season. The Titan won that game 11-1... Saint John has now been outscored 14-1 in first periods this season... Cajkovic wore a full cage after the first period... Tyler Higgins did not play much (if at all?) after the first period... it appeared very few fans left after the six-goal first period, which was good to see.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Gatineau Olympiques on Thursday at 7 p.m.
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