Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-3

FINAL: Cape Breton 5, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs ended their season on a losing note on Saturday at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs got off to a great start, grabbing a 2-0 first period lead over the Cape Breton Eagles. But the Eagles quickly took momentum, scoring four times in the second period en route to 5-3 win.

Cam Squires scored a hat trick for Cape Breton while Tomas Lavoie and Cole Burbidge added singles. Jakub Milota made 34 stops in the win.

Olivier Groulx scored twice for Saint John while William Yared added a solo marker. Eric Young made 41 saves in the loss.

This was Saint John's final game of the season after being eliminated from post-season contention on Friday night. The Eagles, meanwhile, have a first round playoff date with the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

It was all Saint John in the opening half of the first period on Saturday. Groulx opened the scoring at 6:36 and then, just over two minutes later, Yared connected to make it 2-0 in favour of the Sea Dogs.

Shots were 16-4 Saint John at one point but Cape Breton really turned it around late in the frame, pressuring in the final few minutes and keeping Young busy. Shots ended 18-15 in favour of the Dogs.

The Eagles carried that momentum into the second period. Squires got Cape Breton on the board at 5:34 and then, just 38 seconds later, a low Lavoie point shot went through some traffic and past Young to make it a 2-2 game.

Cape Breton took their first lead at 11:01 when Burbidge scored shorthanded. Then, at 15:50, Squires netted his second to make it 4-2 after two. Shots in the middle frame were 20-7 in favour of the Eagles.

Squires completed his hat trick at 11:17 of the third period to make it 5-2. Groulx rounded out the scoring with 3:51 remaining.

LINEUP

Rozzi - Groulx - Yared

Morin - Dubé - Wagner

Calder - M. Krayer - Beaulieu

MacLean - Leard

Tivey - Mann

Bilodeau - Duhamel

Lumsden - Amyot

Bonnet

Young

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Tyler Peddle (injury), Ben Cross (one-game suspension), Egan Beveridge (injury), Darien Reynolds (injury) and Dylan Krayer (injury).

NOTES: Ben Cross and Cape Breton's Carson Griffen both served one-game suspension's for fighting in Friday's game... with Cross suspended and Tyler Peddle injured, defenseman Matthew MacLean was used as a forward and affiliate forward Jonah Leard returned to the lineup... overagers Matteo Mann and Nate Tivey were honoured before the game... the game didn't start until 4:20 p.m... John Lumsden's assist on Olivier Groulx's goal was just his second point of the season... this was just the ninth time all season that the Sea Dogs led after the first period... the Eagles scored a shorthanded goal for the second straight game, giving them 11 on the year... Olivier Groulx had seven shots... Saint John went 1/4 on the power play... Jacob Beaulieu had six hits... the Sea Dogs end the season on a four-game losing streak... Saint John finishes with a 21-43-0-0 record for 42 points... attendance was a season high 5,861. It was the team's largest crowd since Dec. 31, 2022.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: We'll see you in August for pre-season games.