Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3 (SO)

FINAL: Bathurst 4, Saint John 3 (SO)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Ben Allison scored the only goal of the shootout as the Acadie-Bathurst Titan defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 on Saturday at TD Station.

Dylan Andrews, Riley Kidney and Logan Chisholm scored for Bathurst in regulation time. Jan Bednar made 30 saves in the win.

The victory improves the Titan to 4-0-0-0 on the young season. They are also 2-0-0-0 against the Sea Dogs this year.

Carter McCluskey, William Dufour and Evgeny Sapelnikov scored for Saint John. Jonathan Lemieux, making his fourth straight start, made 34 saves in the loss.

The loss drops the Sea Dogs to 0-3-0-1 on the year. Another tough test awaits them on Monday afternoon when they take on the Charlottetown Islanders. Hopefully the Dogs can take some of the momentum gained from this contest into that matchup.

Andrews opened the scoring at 4:55 of the first period, accepting a pass from Kidney from behind the net and beating Lemieux top corner.

McCluskey tied the game with his first carer QMJHL goal at 8:08, tapping the puck in from the crease. Saint John gained some momentum from the goal and were buzzing in the offensive zone for a few minutes.

That buzzing ended with back-to-back power plays for Bathurst. The Titan didn't score but did create some pressure and scoring chances. 

Olivier Picard was handed a four-minute penalty for high sticking at 2:04 of the second period. On the man advantage at 5:38, the Sea Dogs failed the get the puck out of the zone on a couple of opportunities, allowing Kidney to score and give the Titan a 2-1 lead.

Saint John tied the match again at 4:49 of third. On a power play, Dufour used the Bathurst defense as a screen and ripped a hard wrist shot past Bednar to make it 2-2.

The Titan quickly retook the lead at 5:57 on a power play when Chisholm fired a one-timer from the top of the circle through some traffic.

With just over nine minutes remaining, Jeremie Poirier spun and fired from the slot, beating Bednar but hit the bottom of the post. Saint John went to another power play at 11:41 where Riley Bezeau had a great chance in front but was denied by the Titan 'tender.

Saint John's offense broke through at 17:13 when Sapelnikov scored his first QMJHL goal, beating Bednar low blocker side to even things up at 3-3.

In overtime, Bathurst dominated the first few minutes. Sapelnikov had Saint John's best chance of the extra frame but was robbed by Bednar.

Allison, in the fourth round, scored the only goal of the shooutout to give the Titan a 4-3 victory.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

MacDonald - Reynolds - Sapelnikov

Picard - Savoie - Bezeau

Foston - Laforge - McCluskey

Poirier - Despont

DesRoches - Villeneuve

Drapeau - Inniss

Lemieux

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Ryan Francis (Stockton Heat training camp), Gavin Watt and Adam Bowness along with defenseman Hunter Gartley.

FIRST GOAL: Carter McCluskey scored his first career QMJHL goal in the first period - an impressive accomplishment for a 14th-round pick. Rookie Nico Laforge picked up his first career point on the goal while Cole Foston earned his first point as a Sea Dog.

ANOTHER FIRST GOAL: Import Evgeny Sapelnikov picked a great time to score his first QMJHL goal, tying the game at 3-3 at 17:13 of the third. The goal was also his first QMJHL point. Sapelnikov finished the game with three shots - including a great chance to win the game in overtime.

Evgeny Sapelnikov's first goal in the Q and its a BEAUTY 🙌 pic.twitter.com/cc7L1uXOW3

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 10, 2021

BEDNAR: For the Titan, Jan Bednar got the start over the Chad Arsenault. Bednar had some struggles against the Sea Dogs last year, going 1-3 to go along with a 4.89 GAA and .865 SV%.

TITAN PK: Saint John finally beat Bathurst's penalty kill, scoring a power play goal in the third period. It was the first goal Bathurst's penalty kill had allowed this season.

ATTENDANCE: The attendance of 2,275 was the second smallest in Sea Dogs history (excluding last season). The smallest announced crowd at a Sea Dogs home game was 2,266 on Oct. 31, 2015 vs Val-d'Or.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs have yet to score first in a game this year... the CHL TV broadcast was much better quality than last week's season opener... linesman Sam Currie left the game for a few minutes in the third period with an injury... this was the first extra time game of the season for both clubs... William Villeneuve had five shots... Riley Bezeau and Olivier Picard each had four hits... hits were 16-9 in favour of Saint John... the Sea Dogs and Titan meet again on Oct. 20 at TD Station.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs visit the Charlottetown Islanders on Thanksgiving Monday at 3 p.m.