Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 3, Halifax 4 (OT)

Trevor MacMillan/Halifax Mooseheads

HALIFAX - The Halifax Mooseheads needed just nine seconds of overtime to defeat the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 on Thursday night at Scotiabank Centre.

Eddy Doyle scored on Halifax's first and only shot of the extra frame, securing the extra point for the Mooseheads and a sweep of this midweek home-and-home with Saint John. The Moose defeated the Sea Dogs 4-3 in Saint John the night before.

Halifax led 2-0 entering the third period but the Sea Dogs, like Wednesday night, stormed back. Alexis Joseph scored shorthanded just 1:59 into the final frame and then Zachary Morin quickly tied things up at 2:47.

The Moose retook the lead at 7:03 only for Joseph to tie things up again with another shorthanded marker at 13:30. Unfortunately for Saint John, they could never take the lead in this game, falling in the extra frame.

Along with Doyle, Amelio Santini, with a pair, and Caylen Blake scored for Halifax. Owen Bresson made 24 saves in the win.

Rafaël Courchesne made 32 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs outshot the Mooseheads for the first half of the game but, like Wednesday, they couldn't find their finish until the third. In that third, Saint John scored three times on just five shots. Halifax, meanwhile, had 18 shots in the the final frame, outshooting Saint John 36-27 overall.

Saint John will finish the first half with a 12-18-2-0 record for 26 points, placing them a disappointing 17th overall in the QMJHL.

LINEUP

Fullerton - Groulx - Donovan

Morin - Joseph - Gendron

Rozzi - Dubé - Yared

Héroux - Beveridge

Vilen - Duhamel

Croteau - Wasmer

Zubek - Baldwin

Drabczynski

Courchesne

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Olivers Murnieks (world juniors), Matthew Krayer (injury or sickness), Jacob Beaulieu (healthy) and Alexis Gauthier (healthy) along with defenseman Cameron Chartrand (injury).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen once again with forward Alexis Gauthier the final scratch... with the trade period beginning Friday, forward Jacob Beaulieu was a healthy scratch for a second straight game... despite playing on back-to-back nights, both teams started the same goaltenders as the previous night... overage forward Samuel Rousseau made his Halifax debut... William Yared wore No. 25... Zachary Morin has goals in back-to-back games and in three of his past four... Alexis Joseph scored his second and third shorthanded goals of the season. His first came in Halifax as well... Joseph is the fifth Sea Dog to ever score two shorthanded goals in a single game... the shorthanded goals give Saint John eight on the season, tying them for the league lead... Max Vilen ends the first half having recorded assists in five straight games... Joseph had five shots... faceoffs were 40-28 in favour of Saint John... attendance was 7,195.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return from the holiday break on Sunday, Dec. 28 when they host the Charlottetown Islanders at 3 pm.