Just like Friday night against the Halifax Mooseheads, the Sea Dogs got themselves into a hole in the first period, going down 2-0. But, like Friday, Saint John rebounded with a strong second period and straightened things out from there.
16-year-old rookie Josh Lawrence was the major story, recording a hat trick and an assist in just his second career QMJHL game. The Fredericton native now has four goals and two assists in two contests.
Jeremie Jacob and Maxim Cajkovic also scored for Saint John. William Poirier added three assists and Alex D'Orio made 34 saves in the win.
Moncton had a pair of goals from Elliot Desnoyers and singles from Jordan Spence and Dylan Seitz. Charles-Antoine Lavallee, in his first QMJHL start, allowed five goals on 35 shots in the loss.
Through two games, the Sea Dogs have shown that they can be competitive and very entertaining. They'll face a tough test on Wednesday in Charlottetown and then will play Moncton on Friday. The Dogs and 'Cats have played several times over the past month and most of those games have been very entertaining. Hopefully that will continue this week.
Desnoyers' first QMJHL goal at 5:58 gave the Wildcats a 1-0 advantage on Sunday. On a power play, a hard shot from the slot went off the back glass and back in front where the Moncton rookie quickly fired it into an open net.
The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead on another power play at 16:53. Jeremy McKenna was along the side boards and made a tremendous pass to a wide open Seitz in front. Seitz tapped the puck past D'Orio to double Moncton's lead.
Moncton had another power play late in the first but the Sea Dogs were able to hold them off the scoreboard this time.
Lawrence got the Sea Dogs on the board at 2:41 of the second period. After William Poirier was stopped on a wraparound, Lawrence pounced on a rebound to make it a 2-1 game.
Just 48 seconds later, Lawrence scored his second to tie the game at 2-2.
Jacob gave the Sea Dogs their first lead of the season at 6:40. Jacob carried the puck into the zone and kept it, managing to jam it under Lavallee and across the line, giving Saint John a 3-2 advantage.
The Wildcats tied the game with another power play goal at 14:10. Jordan Spence fired a point shot that was deflected by Seitz and past D'Orio, making it a 3-3 contest.
Saint John went back in front 14:23. After Lawrence was stopped on a break, the puck came out to Cajkovic who wound up and blasted a shot off the bar and in, giving the Dogs a 4-3 lead. Lavallee was clearly frustrated following the goal, banging his stick on the glass and giving a small slash to William Villeneuve.
Moncton tied the game just 23 seconds into the third. McKenna capitalized on a turnover, quickly firing a low shot that was deflected by Desnoyers five hole on D'Orio - who had lost his stick - making it a 4-4 game.
After killing off a Moncton power play, Lawrence completed his hat trick to put Saint John in front yet again. William Poirier made a nice cross ice feed to a wide open Lawrence who beat Lavallee before he could hug the post.
Moncton pulled Lavallee with 90 seconds remaining and applied some strong pressure in the offensive zone but could not net the equalizer.
LINEUP
SCRATCHESHere is this afternoon's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs brought to you by @CantrburyDental #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/Iei3uJtXSf— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 23, 2018
The Sea Dogs were without forwards Christian Clark (injured), Luke Wilson (healthy) and Kevin Mason (healthy); and defencemen Brendan Sibley (injured) and Carson Gallant (healthy).
NOTES: Yohan Plamondon, who was a healthy scratch on Friday, made his season debut, playing on a line with Brady Burns and Nicolas Deakin-Poot... James White also made his season - and QMJHL - debut, playing on a line with Jeremie Jacob and Aiden MacIntosh... Wildcats forward Alexander Khovanov and defenceman Jonathan Aspirot returned from NHL camps... according to broadcaster John Moore, defenceman Brendan Sibley is very close to returning to action. He did not take part in training camp or the pre-season due to an injury suffered during the summer... the Sea Dogs wore their black third jerseys for the first time sine the 2017 Memorial Cup. They are expected to wear them often at home games... Elliot Desnoyers, who scored twice, had two goals and three assists against Saint John in the pre-season... Maxim Cajkovic left the game for a few minutes in the third period after taking a blindside hit by Dylan Seitz. There was no call on the play. Cajkovic did return and Seitz heard the boos the rest of the game... Moncton went 3/6 on the power play and was buzzing all game long. Saint John's special teams definitely need some work early in this season.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs visit the Charlottetown Islanders on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
What a brutal missed call on the Cajkovic hit.
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