The Saint John Sea Dogs dropped their franchise high 14th consecutive game on Wednesday night at Harbour Station, falling 4-1 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.
The Sea Dogs were well rested. They were playing at home for the first time in weeks. Their opponent had lost six straight games and sat just two points ahead of them in the league's basement. Saint John got half of their defence core returned. All of those factors still weren't enough to earn a win.
In what was a fairly uneventful and at times sloppy contest, the Sea Dogs couldn't find the back of the net. Saint John outshot Bathurst 42-25 overall but still came out on the losing end. That kind of bad luck seems to be the norm for this club in recent months.
Charles-Andre Cypihot, Liam Leonard, Noah Dobson and Marc-Andre LeCouffe scored for Bathurst. Mark Grametbauer made 41 stops in the win.
Nicholas Deakin-Poot scored Saint John's lone goal. Alex D'Orio made 21 stops in the loss.
Bathurst opened the scoring at 11:22 of the first period. Following a Sea Dogs turnover, Cypihot beat D'Orio five hole to give the Titan a 1-0 advantage.
The Titan doubled their lead at 10:45 of the second period when a Leonard point shot was deflected in front and past the Sea Dogs netminder.
Saint John got on the board at 11:03 when Deakin-Poot cut in front but had his shot stopped. The forward grabbed his own rebound and deposited the disc past an outstretched Grametbauer, making it a 2-1 game.
Dobson restored Bathurst's two-goal lead at 17:30. The Titan captain skated in from the line and fired a shot on net that was blocked. Dobson grabbed the loose puck and pushed it across the line after a couple tries, making it a 3-1 game.
LeCouffe scored early in the third period but the goal was called off due to the play being ruled offside after review. But at 8:51, LeCouffe came out of the corner and cut in front to score, making it a 4-1 final.
LINEUP
NOTES: Dawson Stairs made his QMJHL debut. He took a solo lap around the ice to start warmup... Saint John dressed six 16-year-old players with Stairs joining the team for the week... this was Saint John's first home game since Oct. 28 and first game of any kind since Nov. 9... with Josh Lawrence back, Maxim Cajkovic moved back to wing on the top line. He had played some centre in Lawrence's absence... Bathurst's Liam Leonard scored his first career QMJHL goal... Cole Rafuse did not score against Saint John for once... the Titan have outscored the Sea Dogs a total of 21-3 in three games this season... very light crowd for this game... four of Bathurst's five wins this season have come on the road.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Friday night at 7 p.m.
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