Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-5 (SO)

FINAL: Saint John 5, Rouyn-Noranda 6 (SO)

ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. - The Saint John Sea Dogs' inability to maintain a lead on Saturday night proved costly. 

The Sea Dogs surrendered 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4 leads in the third period in a 6-5 shootout loss to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies at Glencore Arena. The loss gives the Dogs a 1-1-0-1 record on their three-game road trip through the West Division.

The Sea Dogs didn't have the best first period, trailing 2-1 after one. They were excellent in the second period, scoring twice, outshooting Rouyn-Noranda 20-8 and controlling most of the play.

The third proved to be a wild, back-and-forth 20 minutes with the two teams trading goals. It looked as though Ryan Francis' shorthanded breakaway goal at 14:43 would be the winner but the Sea Dogs could not, once again, hold the lead. Dyllan Gill scored less than two minutes later to send the match to overtime.

Jeremie Poirier was the only Saint John player to score in the shootout as the Huskies won it in the fourth round. Saint John is now 1-3 in shootouts this season.

Francis, William Villeneuve, Olivier Picard, Carter McCluskey and Charlie DesRoches scored for Saint John. Noah Patenaude allowed five goals on 36 shots in the loss.

Gill, Mathieu Gagnon, Louis-Philippe Fontaine, Jeremie Minville and Anthony Turcotte all scored for Rouyn-Noranda. Mathis Dorcal-Madore was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 17 shots. Samuel Richard allowed two goals on 28 shots in relief.

The loss drops the Sea Dogs back to .500 with a 9-9-0-2 record as they continue to struggle with consistency. 

LINEUP

MacDonald - Lawrence - Dufour

Burns - Francis - Chantler

Picard - Reynolds - Sapelnikov

Crete - Laforge - McCluskey

DesRoches - Villeneuve

Poirier - Inniss

Drapeau - Despont

Lemieux

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defenseman Hunter Gartley along with forwards Cole Foston, Adam Bowness, Charles Savoie and Riley Bezeau. Saint John dressed the same lineup as they did on Friday in Val-d'Or with the exception of Noah Patenaude starting over Jonathan Lemieux.

LONG TIME: This was Saint John's first game in Rouyn-Noranda in over two years. Their last trip to play the Huskies was on Nov. 25, 2019 when the homeside defeated the Sea Dogs 6-3.

FAMILIAR FACE: The Sea Dogs faced Leighton Carruthers, the team's first-round pick in the 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft, for the first time on Saturday. Carruthers had three shots and was a -1 in the game.

DUFOUR: With an assist in the first period, William Dufour extended his road points streak to nine games. Dufour also had eight shots in the game.

VILLENEUVE: William Villeneuve was named the game's first star with a goal and two assists. Villeneuve and Charlie DesRoches both scored their first goals of the season.

NOTES: The Huskies improved to 7-2-0-1 at home... Yanic Crete had two assists to give him three helpers over his past two games... Carter McCluskey scored again to give him four goals in just 11 games this season... Saint John's power play went 0/3 but it looked very good once again - especially on a man advantage in the third period... Ryan Francis ended a three-game goalless streak... attendance was 1,737 and there were probably that many horns in the building as well. 

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