Recap: Sea Dogs win 3-2 (OT)

FINAL: Shawinigan 2, Jabez Seymour 3 (OT)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - What a night for Jabez Seymour.

Seymour entered the game with five goals on the entire season. On Saturday night, the Newfoundlander scored his first career QMJHL hat trick to lead the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 3-2 overtime win over the Shawinigan Cataractes.

Seymour opened the scoring in the first period, scored the game-tying goal with 25 seconds remaining in regulation and then netted the overtime winner. Hat tricks don't get much better than that.

The win ends a five-game losing streak for Saint John and a six-game home losing streak. They hadn't won at TD Station since early January.

The Sea Dogs struggled to generate chances for much of the night but found a push in the third period. Shots through 40 minutes were 25-15 in favour of Shawinigan but ended 34-30 in their favour.

Perhaps most impressive about this win are the circumstances it came under. Saint John was playing a man short and had to slide defenseman Everett Baldwin up front. The team also played this game under some fatigue, flying from St. John's to Halifax in the morning and not getting into Saint John until the early afternoon. The long day proved to be worth it.

Dogs missing several regulars vs Cataractes

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs have been forced to dress an unusual lineup tonight for their game against the Shawinigan Cataractes.

Forward Olivers Murnieks remains out with an injury while Maxime Côté and Angelo Fullerton will both serve one-game suspensions. Fullerton has been suspended for his slew footing match penalty on Thursday while Côté has been automatically suspended for an accumulation of fights.

Defenseman Carl-Otto Magnusson, meanwhile, will serve the second game of his two-game suspension for being an aggressor in Wednesday's game.

Here's what Saint John's projected lineup looks like for tonight.

Rozzi - Groulx - Donovan

Morin - Joseph - Seymour

Krayer - Yared - Baldwin

Héroux - Gauthier

Wasmer - Duhamel

Croteau - Damphousse

Drabczynski - Dunlap

Chartrand

Courchesne

MacPherson

Affiliate defenseman Jesse Dunlap will play his second QMJHL game after debuting on Thursday. Cameron Chartrand, who has been in-and-out of the lineup with nagging back injury, is listed as the seventh defensemen.

The most notable move on defense is who is listed up front. The team has d-man Everett Baldwin playing wing on the third line.

In net, the team has called up affiliate Jase MacPherson from the Kensington Wild to be Rafaël Courchesne's backup. Arseni Radkov is listed as a healthy scratch. Not sure if that's just the Sea Dogs wanting to give MacPherson some exposure to the QMJHL or if there is more to it.

All of this brings up an odd situation: the Sea Dogs are poised to dress no import players and just one overage player.

Tonight's game begins at 7 p.m. at TD Station, which is also unexpected. Could be a weird night ahead.

Game Day 51: vs Cataractes

Jeff Parsons/Newfoundland Regiment

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs will look to snap a five-game losing tonight at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs are coming off what has turned into an eventful trip to Newfoundland. The Sea Dogs lost both games to the Regiment and were scheduled to return home on Friday. But a flight cancellation means they'll be flying into Halifax today, making the drive to Saint John and hosting the Shawinigan Cataractes at 7 p.m.

Tonight's game was originally scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. but was pushed back due to the Sea Dogs' travel issues.

The Sea Dogs were already in for a challenging game – the Cataractes sit fifth overall in the QMJHL standings – and the travel issues probably won't help things.

The Cataractes are on a four-game Maritime road trip. They lost in Charlottetown on Wednesday and in Halifax on Thursday.

Stream/TV/Radio: FloHockey/None/Sea Dogs Audio Network

Records: The Sea Dogs are 17-28-5-0 for 39 points (eighth Eastern/15th QMJHL) while the Cataractes are 30-16-1-4 for 65 points (third Western/fifth QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-1 loss in Newfoundland on Thursday. Alexis Joseph scored Saint John's lone goal. Arseni Radkov made 25 saves in the loss. The Cataractes are coming off a 2-1 shootout loss in Halifax on Thursday. Vince Elie scored Saint John's lone goal. Mathys Fernandez made 31 saves in the loss.

Saturday's start time changed

Jeff Parsons/Newfoundland Regiment

The season series is over but Newfoundland is still causing issues for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The team announced Friday evening that their home game on Saturday against the Shawinigan Cataractes has been pushed to 7 p.m. due to travel issues. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.

The Sea Dogs were scheduled to fly from St. John's to Halifax on Friday and make the drive home but their flight was cancelled. The team will now fly to Halifax on Saturday, make the drive to Saint John and host Cataractes at 7 p.m., which is far from an ideal situation.

Saint John carries a five-game losing streak and a six-game home losing streak into Saturday's game.

This is the Sea Dogs' Next Gen weekend. On Saturday, social media star Coach Chippy will be making a return to TD Station and the team will wear its CHL Jersey Contest jerseys. The first 1,500 fans will also receive rally towels.

According to the team, "doors will now open for the Meet & Greet with Coach Chippy at 5:00 p.m. Reminder that a ticket to the game is required for entry."

The Sea Dogs will also play on Family Day Monday, hosting the Victoriaville Tigres at 3 p.m.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Newfoundland 5

Jeff Parsons/Newfoundland Regiment

ST. JOHN'S, NL - The Newfoundland Regiment completed the sweep on Thursday.

The Regiment defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-1 at Mary Brown's Centre, taking all eight games in the season series. That includes four one-goal victories at TD Station.

Newfoundland, who are in a fight for playoff positioning in the middle of the standings, have now won five straight games overall. Saint John, meanwhile, have lost five straight and nine of their last 10.

It was a similar script to Wednesday's game as the Regiment grabbed a 3-0 lead in the first period. Saint John didn't have a bad second half of the game but they bad a big hole to dig themselves out of.

Alexis Joseph scored at 1:49 of the second and had a number of chances to cut the deficit more, even having a penalty shot that was stopped by Regiment goaltender Louis-Antoine Denault. The Newfoundland netminder made 27 saves in the win.

Benjamin Veitch, Blake Pilgrim-Edwards, Justin Larose, Maddex Marmulak and Louis-François Bélanger scored for Newfoundland. 

Arseni Radkov, who come on in relief of Rafaël Courchesne on Wednesday, made 25 saves in the loss.

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Newfoundland 7

Jeff Parsons/Newfoundland Regiment

ST. JOHN'S, NL - After four straight one-goal losses to the Newfoundland Regiment, the Saint John Sea Dogs found themselves out of this one early and never able to get back into it.

The Regiment led 3-0 less than 10 minutes into the game and went on to defeat the Sea Dogs 7-3 at Mary Brown's Centre on Wednesday night.

Newfoundland is now 7-0 against Saint John this season with their final meeting scheduled for Thursday night in St. John's. The two teams are heading in opposite directions as the Regiment have now won four straight while the Sea Dogs have lost four consecutive games and eight of their last nine.

Tyson Goguen scored a pair of goals for Newfoundland while singles came from Liam Arsenault, Ryan Dwyer, Alexis Michaud, Dawson Sharkey and Justin Larose. Louis-Antoine Denault made 18 saves in the win.

Olivier Groulx, Maxime Côté and Vincent Croteau scored for Saint John. Rafaël Courchesne was pulled after allowing three goals on 10 shots in the first period. Arseni Radkov allowed four goals on 20 shots in relief.

The positive for Saint John is that the second half of the game wasn't as bad as the first, so maybe we'll see a tighter contest tomorrow. The Sea Dogs had seven straight power plays beginning in the second period, which helped. Saint John went 2/8 on the man advantage.

Newfoundland, meanwhile, went 2/5 on the power play.