RECAP: Sea Dogs lose 3-1

FINAL: Bathurst 3, Saint John 1

SAINT JOHN - The great losing streak is over for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

The Titan put an end to their 23-game losing skid on Thursday night at Harbour Station defeating the Saint John Sea Dogs 3-1. The streak will remain the fifth longest in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League history.

It was a battle of the league's worst teams on Thursday - and it definitely looked like it. The game was sloppy, slow and unorganized for most of the night - which was expected. Entering the game, the two teams had a combined 19 wins.

Liam Leonard opened the scoring at 11:44 of the first period and then Cole Rafuse, the Sea Dogs killer, put the Titan up by two with a goal in the final minute of the middle frame. Leonard added an empty netter with 1:23 remaining in regulation time to secure the win.

Goaltender Mark Grametbauer, who has collected five of his eight wins against Saint John this season, made 29 saves in the victory.

Jeremie Jacob scored Saint John's lone goal - which came in the final minute of the third with the game already out of reach. Zachary Bouthillier made 41 stops in the loss.

The Titan's last win came on Jan. 5 in Gatineau.

The loss was a major blow to Saint John's playoff chances. The team remains three points back of the final playoff spot with five games remaining - a tall task for a team that has won 12 of 63 games all year.

The Sea Dogs, who have now lost 11 straight games, host the Titan again tomorrow night.

LINEUP

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards William Poirier (injured) and Yohan Plamondon (injured); and defensemen Benjamin Gagne (injured) and Brendan Sibley (injured).

NOTES: Four minutes of silence were held before the game in honour of David "DK" Kelly, who passed away on Wednesday night. The four minutes represented the four championships won by Kelly during his time as the team's equipment manager. Players from both teams stood around the faceoff circle at centre ice for the ceremony... Mikhail Denisov returned to the Sea Dogs bench after missing the past several games with injury... affiliate Carson Gallant remains with the club and was in the lineup as a forward... Saint John played two players short, going with five defensemen and 11 forwards... Cole Rafuse now has five goals and seven assists in eight games against Saint John.

HIGHLIGHTS


NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Titan meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m.