Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-3

FINAL: Victoriaville 3, Saint John 6

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Victoriaville Tigres hung around but the Saint John Sea Dogs were too much for the rebuilding team to handle on Saturday at TD Station.

William Dufour scored a pair of goals as the Sea Dogs defeated the Tigres 6-3, getting some revenge for that 2-1 loss in Victoriaville earlier this season.

Former Tigres defenseman Vincent Sevigny also scored for Saint John along with Ryan Francis, Josh Lawrence and Raivis Ansons. William Villeneuve had three assists. Thomas Couture made 23 saves in the win.

Despite the Sea Dogs heavily outshooting the Tigres for most of the game, Victoriaville never mailed it in and made the most of their opportunities. This was the final game of a challenging three-in-three for the reigning President Cup champions.

Loick Daigle had a pair of goals for Victoriaville while Maxime Pellerin added a single. Nathan Darveau made 38 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs have now won six of the seven games they've played in the second half.

LINEUP

Daoust - Lawrence - Dufour

Burns - Ansons - Francis

Reynolds - MacDonald - Bezeau

Picard - Laforge - Chantler

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Kuznetsov - Poirier

Drapeau - DesRoches

Couture

Hurtubise

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); defenseman Vincent Despont (healthy); and forwards Marshall Lessard (injury), Connor Trenholm (game one of a two-game suspension) and Nicholas Blagden (game one of a 10-game suspension). The Sea Dogs had seven defensemen listed on their lineup sheet with Despont the final scratch.

WELCOME BACK: Olivier Picard and Ryan Francis both returned to the Sea Dogs lineup while Nico Laforge, who has been with the MHL's Grand Falls Rapids, was added. This was Laforge's first game with the Sea Dogs in the second half.

NICE GOAL: Real slick redirect by Ryan Francis here. This was Francis' first goal since Dec. 4.

FRANCIS! Back in the lineup and on the board! 🚨#CityofChampions @NHLFlames pic.twitter.com/FBe1nQrWry

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) February 19, 2022

BIG NIGHT: Vincent Sevigny seemed to enjoy playing his former team, recording a goal and two assists in the first period. He was named the game's first star.

30 GOALS: William Dufour continues to do William Dufour things, scoring two goals in this game. He is now the league leader in goals with 30. This was Dufour's seventh two-goal game of the season.

His second of the night, his thirtieth of the year! Who else but William Dufour! 🚨#CityofChampions @NYIslanders pic.twitter.com/Rwxj263CDP

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) February 20, 2022

ROUGH TRIP: The Tigres have completed what has to be one of, if not the toughest three-in-three road trip in the QMJHL this season, visiting Bathurst, Charlottetown and Saint John. They dropped all three games and were outscored 20-6.

NOTES: Including their backup goaltender, the Tigres dressed 12 rookies in this game. Saint John's lone rookie was Nico Laforge... following Victoriaville's 7-2 loss in Charlottetown Friday, the Tigres' Alexis Jacques received a five-game suspension for violating the league's anti-discrimination policy... Saint John won 45 of 74 faceoffs... Philippe Daoust had two assists... William Dufour had seven shots... hits were listed as 21-10 in favour of the Tigres... Thomas Couture improved to 3-0 since joining the Sea Dogs... Loick Daigle and Maxime Pellerin each had three points... the attendance was 2,663 as New Brunswick moved into Level 1 of its "Winter Plan."

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of a three-in-three tomorrow afternoon at 3 p.m., hosting the Drummondville Voltigeurs.