Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Charlottetown 5

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Saint John Sea Dogs came up short against the Charlottetown Islanders once again on Saturday.

The Islanders, like they did on Friday,  grabbed a 3-0 lead en route to a 5-2 win at Eastlink Centre. The night before, the Isles defeated the Dogs 4-2 at TD Station.

The loss drops the Sea Dogs to 0-2 to start the season. There's certainly no reason for panic this early in the year, but it's obviously not an ideal start. The schedule also doesn't get much easier with two games against the 2-0 Acadie-Bathurst Titan coming up and then another matchup with the Islanders.

Saint John looked better as a whole in this game compared to Friday. Peter Reynolds scored shorthanded and Brady Burns scored on a power play. The Sea Dogs went 1/5 on the power play a night after going 0/5.

Jonathan Lemieux made 29 saves in the loss.

Brett Budgell scored twice for Charlottetown while singles came from Sam Oliver, Patrick Guay and Xavier Simoneau. Jacob Goobie made 23 saves in the win.

LINEUP

MacDonald - Reynolds - Sapelnikov

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Picard - Savoie - Bezeau

Foston - Bowness - McCluskey

DesRoches - Villeneuve

Poirier - Despont

Drapeau - Inniss

Lemieux

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Ryan Francis (Calgary Flames camp), Nico Laforge and Gavin Watt along with defenseman Hunter Gartley. 

DEBUT: Quispamsis native Adam Bowness made his QMJHL debut on Saturday. He was an invite to Saint John's training camp. He didn't see much ice time but did record one shot on goal. Bowness drew into the lineup while Nico Laforge came out.

PRE-GAME: This was Charlottetown's home opener so the entire team was introduced before the game. PEI Premier Dennis King was also on hand for the pre-game ceremony and gave a very hyped speech about the team at centre ice.

HELLO AGAIN: This was Saint John's first game at the Eastlink Centre since Oct. 23, 2020, a game the Sea Dogs lost 5-1 in front of just 970 fans. The Dogs were only able to visit Charlottetown once last season. They travel to PEI again on Thanksgiving Monday.

TOSSED: Cam MacDonald was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head on Lukas Cormier in the second period. A suspension will likely come from it.

NOTES: The foghorn made its return to Eastlink Centre... the attendance was 2,283. The COVID capacity limit at this time is 2,700... the Eastlink Centre, like TD Station, has new boards and glass. New lights will be installed later this season... there was a delay in the second period due to an ice issue in front of the Islanders bench... Riley Bezeau, who has been wearing an A this season, had Saint John's first fight of the year, dropping the gloves with Mathis Aguilar... Josh Lawrence had two assists... Christopher Inniss had five hits... Noah Laaouan had three assists.

NEXT GAME: Saint John's schedule doesn't get any easier with a Friday night matchup in Bathurst up next. Game time is 7 p.m.