STATION NATION POST-GAMEVictoriaville- The last time the Saint John Sea Dogs played the Victoriaville Tigres the skate was on the other foot. The Tigres embarrassed the Sea Dogs 5-2 on home ice, a game that saw Simon Despres and Yann Sauve make their season debuts. This time around the Sea Dogs had the last laugh after a 5-3 win over the Tigres at Desjardins Colisee this afternoon.
The game wouldn't have been as close if not for a Tigres surge in the last two minutes of the game. Nicholas Petersen shot it into an empty net to insure a Saint John victory.
Also scoring for Saint John was Stephen McAuley, Nicholas Pard, Steven Anthony, and Nathan Beaulieu. Anthony and Petersen both had three point nights. Marc-Antoine Gelinas got the win in net improving his record to 3-2-0.
Scoring for the Tigres was Travis McIsaac and Andrej Nestrasil.
The Sea Dogs got into some penalty trouble in the first period. The last time these two teams met Victoriaville went 4/6 on the man advantage.
Marc-Antoine Gelinas came up big stopping two great scoring chances back-to-back with the Tigres two men up.
Gelinas could not stop Andrej Nestrasil at 5:25 when he scored on the power play with a short side shot up high to make it 1-0. That would be the only power play goal for the Tigres on seven opportunities.
Yann Sauve was called for boarding at 13:43. The Sea Dogs proved that sometimes four players are better than five. Jonathan Huberdeau started a give-and-go with Stephen McAuley who scored to tie the game 1-1. The shorthanded marker came at 15:35.
When Sauve came out of the box he went on a breakaway but was stoned by New York Islanders fifth round pick Kevin Poulin.
Shots were 14-10 after one period in favour of Victoriaville.
With Olivier Jannard and Philipe-Michael Devos in the box for Victoriaville, Steven Anthony took advantage scoring his sixth of the season at 7:04. Anthony took an air mail pass from Petersen and ripped it off the post and in the net to give Saint John a 2-1 lead.
Saint John scored again at 16:33 when Nathan Beaulieu scored a strange one from Anthony and Petersen. Beaulieu took an Innocent looking shot from the blue line that was misplayed by Poulin's glove hand and fell into the net.
The Sea Dogs took the momentum going onto the third period. Saint John outshot the Tigres 16-12 in the period.
After an uneventful first ten minutes of the third, Nicholas Pard and Olivier Oullet went in on a two on one. Oullet threw the puck cross ice for Pard who scored by chipping it over a committed Poulin. That made it 4-1 Saint John.
It looked like the Sea Dogs would cruise to an easy victory but the Tigres had other ideas.
Andrej Nestrasil scored with 1:46 remaining in the third period. Nestarsil batted a Saint John clearing attempt out of midair and beat Gelinas glove side. Nestrasil loves playing against Saint John, with three of his four goals on the season coming against the Sea Dogs.
Victoriaville cut the lead to one after Travis McIsaac picked up a rebound and slipped it by Gelinas to make it 4-3. Maxime Lamarche took the initial shot that was blocked in front of the net, leaving a platter for McIsaac to get his third of the season.
But with two seconds remaining and Kevin Poulin skating to the bench, Petersen found the back of the net and guaranteed Saint John a victory. The goal was not ruled an empty netter after Poulin through his stick in a last ditch effort.
Saint John improves to 6-3-1-0 on the season, a crucial victory with Cape Breton winning today. The Sea Dogs are slowly gaining momentum and chemistry with it's impressive group of star forwards.
This was Saint John's only win on their three game Quebec road swing.
NOTES: The attendance was 2,321... Gabriel Bourret, Scott Oke, and Robert McEwan were all healthy scratches for Saint John... this was Saint John's first ever victory in Victoriaville in franchise history... Nicholas Petersen know has six points in only two games this season since joining the club. This was his second straight three point game... Marc-Antoine Gelinas was excellent in net stopping 33 of 36 shots on the night... Petersen and Maxime Robichaud almost got in a fight near the end of the first period... Saint John goes 1-1-1-0 on thier three game road trip... the Sea Dogs special teams have been improving greatly after the past few games. They have the league's worst penalty kill.
NEXT GAME: Saint John Sea Dogs vs Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. Saturday, October 10, 7:00 pm at Centre 200, Sydney, N.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment