Four Sea Dogs games rescheduled

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - A number of Saint John Sea Dogs games were rescheduled by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League on Monday.

The league announced it's stretching its Christmas break to 15 days "in order to give its players and staff a well-deserved break," according to a press release.

"The QMJHL understands the importance of giving players and staff a moment to re-energize and spend time with their families in the middle of this challenging season," read the statement. "The regular season schedule has been reorganized accordingly to give a two-week break to teams."

The Sea Dogs' last game of the first half is on Dec. 19. The team will not return to action until Jan. 6. 

Here are the Sea Dogs games impacted:

• Dec. 28 vs Cape Breton will be played Dec. 3
• Dec. 30 at Moncton will be played Dec. 9
• Dec. 31 vs Moncton will be played Nov. 25
• Jan. 3 vs Bathurst will be played Feb. 3

The move doesn't come as a huge shock as Maritimes Division teams are in a bit of a jam with the 14-day quarantine situation. When non-Atlantic players leave the Atlantic bubble for the holidays, they'll need to isolate for 14 days upon returning (assuming that rule is still in place, which it likely will be). Even if players returned on Boxing Day, they'd still miss three games (Jan. 6, Jan. 8 and Jan. 9). So... not sure what's going to happen with that, but this Christmas break extension helps out some at least.

Rescheduling the above games seems like an easy task given what the league has been going through the past few weeks. Some more bad news came out on Monday: Sherbrooke is turning into a red zone on Thursday and it's reportedly too late for the club to enter the Quebec City bubble.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 4, Halifax 5 (OT)

HALIFAX - The Saint John Sea Dogs' penalty kill woes proved costly on Friday night.

The Halifax Mooseheads scored three times on the man advantage - including the overtime winner - in a 5-4 victory over the Sea Dogs at Scotiabank Centre.

Saint John entered the game with the league's worst penalty kill (66.7%) amongst active QMJHL teams and it had another rough night, allowing the Moose to score three times on seven opportunities. This comes after allowing two power play goals on Friday.

On the flip side, Saint John's power play had a great night, scoring on three of four chances. The Sea Dogs' offense had a decent night, particularly in the second period when the team scored four times on 14 shots. The Dogs were also quite a bit more physical than what we've seen of late (although it did cost them penalties a couple of times).

The Dogs let a two-goal lead slip away in the third period, a frame that saw Halifax outshoot Saint John 15-6. It was the same story we've seen all year: the Sea Dogs just can't quite put a 60-minute performance together that doesn't have costly missteps.

Saint John now sits at 2-5-3-1 on the year. They have lost three straight games and remain winless on the road.

Halifax had goals from Bobby Orr, Elliot Desnoyers, Jordan Dumais, Brendan Tomilson and Jason Horvath. Alexis Gravel made 30 stops in the win.

Saint John goals came from Brady Burns, Cam MacDonald, Jeremie Poirier and Peter Reynolds. Noah Patenaude made 31 stops in the loss.

Game Day 11: at Halifax

HALIFAX - The Saint John Sea Dogs will look to earn their first road win of the season tonight in Halifax.

The Sea Dogs, 0-3-1-1 on the road this season, take on the Halifax Mooseheads at 7 p.m. at Scotiabank Centre. The Dogs have lost back-to-back games - both losses to the Moncton Wildcats at Avenir Centre.

This is the second meeting of the season between the Dogs and Moose.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Eastlink TV/93 CFBC/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are 2-5-2-1 for seven points (sixth Maritimes, 10th QMJHL) while the Mooseheads are 4-5-2-0 for 10 points (fifth Maritimes, seventh QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 4-3 loss in Moncton last night. Liam Leonard, Nicholas Girouard and Brady Burns scored for Saint John. Creed Jones made 45 stops in the loss. The Mooseheads are coming off a 5-4 home win over the Charlottetown Islanders last night. Elliot Desnoyers recorded four goals while William Robitaille added a solo marker. Brady James made 41 saves in the win.

2020-21 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 0-0-0-1 against the Mooseheads this season while Halifax is 1-0-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Oct. 17 at Scotiabank Centre where the Mooseheads defeated the Sea Dogs 5-4 in a shootout. Markus Vidicek scored twice for Halifax while singles came from Zachary L'Heureux and Elliot Desnoyers. Riley Bezeau, Joshua Roy, Josh Lawrence and Alex Drover scored for Saint John. Cole McLaren made 37 stops in the win. Creed Jones made 23 saves in the loss.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Moncton 4

MONCTON - 10 games into the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season and there's no doubt that the Saint John Sea Dogs are not where they want to be.

The Sea Dogs fell to 2-5-2-1 on the year with another road loss on Friday, blowing two one-goal leads and losing 4-3 to the rebuilding Moncton Wildcats. Saint John was outshot 49-32 in the game and the score could have been much worse if not for the strong play of netminder Creed Jones.

Saint John's penalty kill, which entered the game with an ugly 67.9% rating, struggled once again, allowing two power play goals which proved to be costly.

It felt like the Sea Dogs had a good chance of winning despite the Wildcats carrying quite a bit of the play. Saint John couldn't get much going in the third and allowed two Moncton goals - including the game-winner at 8:23 on a nice tip by Alexis Daniel.

10 games in, the Sea Dogs have plenty of work ahead of them.

There was some good news for Saint John in this game. Both Liam Leonard and Brady Burns scored their first goals on the season and Jones, who has struggled, had his best game as a Dog. Nicholas Girouard scored Saint John's other goal.

Philippe Daoust scored twice for Moncton while singles came from Daniel and Jordan Spence. Dakota Lund-Cornish made 29 stops in the win.

Game Day 10: at Moncton

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats meet again tonight at Avenir Centre.

The two teams played the first of 12 meetings on Wednesday with the Wildcats winning 3-1. Saint John will play the Moncton in three of their next four games.

The Wildcats have won three straight contests, pushing their record to .500. The Sea Dogs will be looking for their first road win of the season this evening.

Game time is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/93 CFBC/QMJHL Live

Records: The Sea Dogs are 2-4-2-1 for seven points (sixth Maritimes, 10th QMJHL) while the Wildcats are 4-4-0-0 for eight points (third Maritimes, fifth QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs and Wildcats met on Wednesday night at Avenir Centre where the home team won 3-1. Gabriel Fortier, Jacob Stewart and Francis Langlois scored for Moncton. Dawson Stairs scored Saint John's lone goal. Dakota Lund-Cornish made 35 stops in the win. Noah Patenaude made 25 stops in the loss.

2020-21 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 0-1-0-0 against the Wildcats this season while Moncton is 1-0-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Wednesday night. See above.

Key stretch beginning for Sea Dogs

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - It's early (very early), but the Saint John Sea Dogs are entering a key stretch of their first half schedule.

The Sea Dogs have struggled so far this season, posting a 2-4-2-1 record. No game has been easy, but the team's upcoming stretch is, in theory and on paper at least, "easier" than what they've played so far.

Saint John's next five games will all be against either the Moncton Wildcats (4-4-0-0) or Halifax Mooseheads (3-5-2-0), two teams in the early goings of rebuilds. The Sea Dogs have lost to both teams this season, with both of those loses coming on the road where Saint John remains winless.

Here's a look at Saint John's next five games:

Friday, Nov. 6 at Moncton

Saturday, Nov. 7 at Halifax

Tuesday, Nov. 10 vs Moncton

Friday, Nov. 13 vs Moncton

Saturday, Nov. 14 vs Halifax

Following this stretch, the Sea Dogs visit the Cape Breton Eagles (4-6-0-0) on Nov. 18.

While it is indeed early, it's obvious that this team could use some positive momentum and confidence moving forward. Picking up some points along the way would be great as well. The team's slow start can certainly be overcome (a team going on a 2-4-2-1 run after starting the year 30-10, for example, wouldn't be overly noticeable) but there's no question that this is not the opening most had hoped for.

A few other notes...

• The Wildcats enter Friday's game on a three-game winning streak.
• The Sea Dogs play mid-week games this week (Wednesday's 3-1 loss), next week (Nov. 10 vs Moncton) and the following week (Nov. 18 at Cape Breton).
• Saint John's offense continues to be a bit of a mystery. They've led the league in shots per game (37.12) all season but are averaging 3.02 goals per game. Only the Wildcats have a worse goals per game average (2.86) in the Maritimes Division.