Recap: Sea Dogs lose 3-2

FINAL: Saint John 2, Halifax 3

HALIFAX - Two third period goals by the Halifax Mooseheads were the difference in a 3-2 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday at Scotiabank Centre.

The Mooseheads entered the third period trailing 2-1 – but they quickly flipped the script. Quispamsis native Liam Kilfoil scored on a shorthanded penalty shot at 1:33 and then Lou Levesque sniped what would prove to be the game-winner at 6:20.

Jan Sprynar also scored for Halifax. Mathis Rousseau made 35 saves in the win – Halifax's second against Saint John this season.

The Sea Dogs let this one slip away as they had a slight edge in play a lot of the night. Shots ended 37-24 in favour of Saint John but their struggling power play – which went 0/5 – was a factor in the defeat. The loss pushes the club back below the .500 mark with a 13-14-0-0 record.

Jacob Beaulieu and William Yared had Saint John goals. Justin Robinson made 21 saves in the loss.

The Mooseheads opened the scoring at 8:47 of the first when Sprynar's shot hit Robinson in the mask and produced a rebound. Sprynar put in his own rebound to make it 1-0.

Saint John tied the game at 15:26. After the Sea Dogs successfully killed a penalty, Beaulieu, fresh out of the box, beat Rousseau upstairs on a breakaway.

Yared gave Saint John a 2-1 advantage 5:36 into the second period when, after the puck bobbled around a bit, the rookie forward had an open net to score his seventh of the season.

In the third and with Saint John on a power play, Kilfoil was hooked up/interfered with and was awarded a penalty shot. On his free attempt at 1:33, he made no mistake beating Robinson to make it a 2-2 game.

Not long after at 6:20, the puck came to Levesque in the circle and he ripped a perfect shot over the shoulder of Robinson to make it 3-2 for the Mooseheads.

Saint John pulled Robinson in the final minute and had some offensive zone pressure but could not generate any great chances.

LINEUP

Morin - Miller - Beveridge

Rozzi - Groulx - Yared

Reynolds - Dubé - Cross

Calder - Schenk - Beaulieu

Tivey - Amyot

Bilodeau - Mann

Caputo - MacLean

Robinson

Gravel

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Tyler Peddle (injury) and Eriks Mateiko (injury) along with defensemen Olivier Duhamel (injury) and Cruz Scanzano (healthy).

NOTES: Tyler Peddle, Eriks Mateiko and Olivier Duhamel were all injured in Friday night's game and did not play... Justin Robinson made his first start since Nov. 9. This was his second start against the Mooseheads this season... this was just the second meeting of the year between Saint John and Halifax. They don't meet again until a home-and-home series in mid-January... Penn State commit Mathieu Taillefer, an 18-year-old defenseman who had been playing in the BCHL, made his QMJHL debut. He was a fourth-round pick of Halifax in the 2022 QMJHL Entry Draft... Giuliano Caputo left the game in the first period after taking/receiving a hit in the neutral zone. He returned for the second period... Olivier Groulx took a big reverse hit from Brady Shultz early in the third period. Groulx was left a little bloody (and did return to the game) while Shultz was called for interference... Matthew MacLean left the game late in the third after taking a hit behind the Saint John net... William Yared has goals in back-to-back games... Dylan Rozzi had two assists... Groulx and Matteo Mann each had four shots... Lou Levesque's goal was his first since Oct. 4... Halifax ended a four-game home losing streak... attendance was 9,104.

HIGHLIGHTS

Coming soon.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.