Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Bathurst 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

BATHURST - It was bad, then it was good, and then it was bad again.

The Saint John Sea Dogs dropped their third straight game on Friday at the KC Irving Regional Centre, falling 5-2 to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The loss drops the Sea Dogs to 0-3-0-0 on the young season while the Titan improve to 3-0-0-0.

The two meet again on Saturday at TD Station.

The Titan scored just 11 seconds into the game and it looked as though the Sea Dogs were on their way to another rough first period - but Saint John turned things around quickly. William Dufour scored at 10:20 with the Sea Dogs outshooting the Titan 9-1 at the time. Then at 13:05, Brady Burns connected to give the Dogs a 2-1 lead.

Saint John controlled most of the play in the opening frame but things started to even out as the second period moved along. Jacob Melanson scored at 18:06 of the second to make it 2-2 heading into the third.

The Titan scored at 2:05 of the third and again at 2:53, chasing Jonathan Lemieux from the Saint John net. Then at 8:49 on a power play, Jaxon Bellamy fired a bomb from the point to give the Titan a commanding 5-2 advantage.

Bathurst goals came from Melanson, Bellamy, Ben Allison, Marc-Andre Gaudet and Riley Kidney. Chad Arsenault made 31 saves in the win. Only five of Saint John's 33 shots were considered "dangerous" by the official scorers.

Dufour and Burns scored Saint John's goals. Lemieux allowed four goals on 20 shots before getting the hook in the third. Noah Patenaude allowed a goal on 10 shots in relief.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

MacDonald - Reynolds - Sapelnikov

Picard - Savoie - Bezeau

Laforge - Bowness - McCluskey

DesRoches - Villeneuve

Poirier - Despont

Drapeau - Inniss

Lemieux

Patenaude

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

LEMIEUX: Jonathan Lemieux made a third straight start for Saint John but was pulled in the third after allowing four goals on 20 shots. Lemieux struggled against the Titan in his pre-season debut, allowing six goals in 28:57 minutes of action. Noah Patenaude saw his first action of the season in relief and allowed a goal on 10 shots.

FIRST PERIOD: Saint John entered the game having been outscored 5-0 in first periods. Things got off to a bad start with Bathurst scoring just 11 seconds in - but the Dogs turned things around. Saint John ended the first with a 2-1 lead and outshot Bathurst 13-6.

FIGHT: Riley Bezeau had his second fight of the season in the second period, dropping the gloves with Lane Hinkley. The fight came after Bezeau put  a big hit on Dylan Andrews. Hinkley picked up instigator and unsportsmanlike conduct misconducts.

NOTES: With 14:45 remaining in the second, a Sea Dogs power play goal was called off due to apparent goaltender interference... Evgeny Sapelnikov had a great chance to score his first QMJHL goal on a breakaway in the second period but could't quite slide the puck past Chad Arsenault on a deke... the Sea Dogs have now been outscored 6-1 in third periods... Saint John managed to keep Bennett MacArthur to just one assist... Josh Lawrence had two assists and six shots for the Sea Dogs... Nathan Drapeau had three hits... the attendance was 1,470.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Titan meet again on Saturday at 7 p.m. at TD Station.