Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Charlottetown 7

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Charlottetown Islanders didn't have any problems scoring goals on Wednesday night at Eastlink Centre.

The Islanders put seven goals on the board in a 7-3 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs. The Islanders entered the game averaging just 2.60 goals per game, the second fewest in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Jakub Brabenec scored twice for Charlottetown while Lucas Romeo, Giovanni Morneau, Peter Repcik, Jarrett Todd and Jeremie Biakabutuka added solo markers. Francesco Lapenna made 16 saves in the win.

Vince Elie, Noah Reinhart and Jared Cosman scored for Saint John. Ventsislav Shingarov made 35 stops in the loss.

Saint John was sloppy defensively at times, which led to Charlottetown scoring chances. The Sea Dogs struggled to generate quality chances of their own, recording just nine dangerous shots in this game. The absences of Cam MacDonald and Peter Reynolds were felt.

The Islanders opened the scoring at 9:20 of the first when Michael Horth fed Brabenec with a backhand pass, allowing the import forward to fire a one time shot top corner on Shingarov. Then at 18:35, Romeo danced around Vincent Despont and beat the Sea Dogs netnimder five hole to give Charlottetown a 2-0 advantage after 20 minutes.

Elie got Saint John on the board at 9:08 of the second, beating Lapenna upstairs after a nice, short feed from Cole Burbidge. But Charlottetown quickly responded at 10:54 with Morneau redirecting a point shot.

The Islanders made it a 4-1 game at 15:25 when Ross Campbell sent Repcik in alone, beating Shingarov with a backhand shot five hole. Not long after at 18:08, Brett Arsenault and Todd went in on a short two-on-none with Todd finishing off the play, giving Charlottetown a commanding 5-1 lead. Reinhart scored at 19:26, making it a 5-2 game through two periods.

Cosman got Saint John back within a pair at 6:21 of the third, showing off some patience and toe dragging around a couple Islanders before ripping a wrist shot past Lapenna. Charlottetown got some insurance at 13:40 when Brabenec went coast-to-coast on a power play to make it 6-3. Biakabutuka made it a 7-3 final with another power play goal with 16 seconds remaining.

LINEUP

Burns - Trenholm - Elie

Simek - Burbidge - Reinhart

Thifault - Cournoyer - Mateiko

Laforge - Beaulieu

DesRoches - Cosman

Bilodeau - Despont

Akkouche - Tivey

Tracey

Shingarov

Brideau

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise (injury); defenseman Jeremie Richard (healthy); and forwards Peter Reynolds (injury), Cam MacDonald (injury) and Tomasz Szczerba injury).

PENALTY TROUBLE: The Sea Dogs were looking good early in the third and Jared Cosman got Saint John within two goals at 6:21 - but then the visitors got into some penalty trouble. Nico Laforge took a double-minor for spearing at 12:38 and Brady Burns was given an unsportsmanlike conduct misconduct at the same time. On the ensuing power play, Jakub Brabenec went coast-to-coast to make it 6-3 Islanders. Late in the period at 18:07, Alexis Cournoyer took a delay of game penalty and then Connor Trenholm joined him in the box due to an unsportsmanlike conduct minor at 18:39. Jeremie Biakabutuka scored on the five-on-three to make it a 7-3 final. Charlottetown went 2/6 on the man advantage.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Cam MacDonald and Peter Reynolds both out with injuries... the Islanders opened the scoring, ending a streak of three straight games for the Sea Dogs where they scored first... 16-year-old Marcus Kearsey put a massive open ice hit on 20-year-old Charlie DesRoches in the second period... Eriks Mateiko lost a skate blade in the second period and had to be assisted to the bench... Noah Reinhart scored his first goal since Oct. 14... Cole Burbidge had two assists and a team high three shots... Saint John went 23/62 in the faceoff circle... the Sea Dogs and Islanders don't meet again until Dec. 28... attendance was 1,883.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Cape Breton to take on the Eagles on Saturday at 7 p.m.