Recap: Sea Dogs lose 9-8

FINAL: Saint John 8, Cape Breton 9

Cape Breton Eagles

SYDNEY, NS - It was a wild Sunday afternoon at Centre 200.

The Saint John Sea Dogs trailed 2-0, led 3-2, fell behind 7-3 and then pulled back within one only to lose 9-8 to the Cape Breton Eagles. The Sea Dogs fell 3-1 to the Eagles on Saturday night and are now eight points back of their division rival.

The Sea Dogs remain six points back of the final playoff spot(s), which are currently held by the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and Val-d'Or Foreurs. The Sea Dogs have played one less game than the Armada and Foreurs.

Saint John had a rough start in the first period, falling behind 2-0. They rebounded in the second half of the frame and then pulled ahead, 3-2, early in the second period. The Eagles then scored five straight goals in the middle frame, which was followed by two Saint John markers. Cape Breton took an 8-5 lead into the third period.

The Sea Dogs managed to get within a goal again before the midway mark of the third period but could not net an equalizer.

Eagles captain Ivan Ivan had seven points (two goals and five assists) while Samuel Johnson had a goal and three assists. William Shields and Angelo Fullerton each scored a pair of goals while other singles came from Trevor Thurston and Cam Squires. 

Oliver Satny played the entire game in net, making 29 stops in the win.

Eriks Mateiko scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Vince Elie, Luka Benoit, Brady Burns, Joseph Ianniello, Alexis Cournoyer and Noah Reinhart. Peter Reynolds had three assists.

Olivier Brideau allowed five goals on 23 shots while Ventsislav Shingarov allowed four goals on 23 shots.

LINEUP

Simek - Burbidge - Reinhart

Burns - Reynolds - Elie

Mateiko - Cournoyer - Drover

Ballard - Benoit

Tivey - DesRoches

Bilodeau - Cosman

Ianniello - Despont

Akkouche

Brideau

Shingarov

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defenseman Jeremie Richard (injury) and forwards Nico Laforge (injury), Sam-Luca Thifault (injury), Nathan Casey (healthy) and Jacob Beaulieu (healthy).

MANY GOALS: This was the second time in Sea Dogs franchise history that they've been part of a game that saw a combined 17 goals scored. Oddly enough, the other time was just a few weeks ago when Halifax beat Saint John 10-7. The franchise record is 18, which was set during a Saint John-PEI game during the 2007-08 season (Saint John won 12-6). This was the fifth time in the QMJHL this season that a game had a combined 17 goals scored.

ROUGH SECOND: The six goals allowed by the Sea Dogs in the second period nearly tied the franchise record for most goals allowed in a single period. The team record is seven, which has happened twice.

NOTES: Saint John went back to 11 forwards and seven defensemen... three Sea Dogs defensemen had two assists: Vincent Despont, Nicolas Bilodeau and Danny Akkouche... Cole Burbidge also had a pair of assists... Saint John went 2/5 on the power play... Cape Breton won 49 of 73 faceoffs... Ivan Ivan tied an Eagles franchise record for assists (five) and points (seven) in a single game... this was the first multi-goal game of Angelo Fullerton's QMJHL career. Fullerton is from Quispamsis... Eriks Mateiko had six shots... Ivan had eight shots... defenseman Joseph Ianniello now has four goals in 20 games with Saint John... this was Saint John's final trip to Sydney this season... attendance was 2,447.

HIGHLIGHTS

Eagles 9
Sea Dogs 8
Ivan Ivan ties the franchise record for points in a game with 7.
Here's the highlights, spoiler, I yell "scoresssss" a lot. pic.twitter.com/Kj211ilHQN

— Mavs Gillis (@eastlinkmavs) February 26, 2023

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads on Thursday night at 7 p.m.