DON'T JUDGE A SCORE BY ITS NUMBERS

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Sea Dogs 6, Mooseheads 2

HALIFAX – It may not look like it, but the Saint John Sea Dogs just managed to pull off another victory over the last-place Halifax Mooseheads.

The Sea Dogs scored four unanswered goals in the third period including three in under four minutes to pick up their 47th win of the season by score of 6-2.

It is rare when the Sea Dogs get outshot and even rarer when they are outshot by an offensively challenged team like the Mooseheads. Outshot 43-39, Marco Cousineau was excellent in goal for the Dogs and picked up his 10th straight win as a member of Saint John’s junior team.

Scoring for Saint John were Aiden Kelly, Stanislav Galiev, Zach Phillips, Nathan Beaulieu, Mike Hoffman, and Michael Kirkpatrick. The home team replied with markers from Charles Bety and Tomas Knotek.

Tomas Jurco almost opened the scoring early on after a turnover behind the Mooseheads goal. He tried a wrap around shot but was stopped by the leg of Mathieu Corbeil.

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 3:04 when Matthew Stoddard took down Gabriel Bourret along the boards. Saint John couldn’t get anything going on the power play however and the score remained tied at goose eggs.

Brent Andrews had a good chance for Halifax shortly after but was challenged by Marco Cousineau who made the pad save on the team Atlantic member. Then Stanislav Galiev tried to give a shout out to his friends at The Hockey News by feeding Nicholas Petersen but was stopped by the pad of Corbeil.

After Simon Despres and Alex Lemieux went to the box, the teams were set for some four-on-four action. Nicholas Pard and Zach Phillips took over from there with some nice passing between themselves but could not score. Then Hoffman centered to the hometown boy Steven Anthony but shot the puck high of the net.

Garret Clarke took two for kneeing at 11:22, giving Saint John another power play. The Sea Dogs had some good chances with Hoffman being stopped twice by Corbeil. Then Jamie Bishop turned over the puck to Phillips but could not score either.

The Moose got called again at 14:35 when Travis Randell held on to a Sea Dog. The Moose had lots of blocked shots on the penalty kill and did a good job at keeping the puck away from the net despite good movement by the Dogs.

One last time, Trey Lewis took two for checking Christian Morin from behind. Saint John struggled on the power play again but it would not matter as the penalty expired. After some nice work by Phillips, he fed a streaking Aiden Kelly who beat Corbeil with a hard wrist shot to open the scoring. For the Saint John native, it was his first career QMJHL goal.

Shot after one were 15-9 Sea Dogs.

Corbeil was showing off his skills early in the second period. He robbed Michael Kirkpatrick with the glove before Kirkpatrick sent a shot wide.

Saint John went to another power play when Linden Bahm went to box for a hook. It was hard to tell weather Saint John’s power play was that bad or if Halifax’s penalty was that good during the two minute span. Either way, it remained 1-0 Sea Dogs.

Halifax got on the board at 5:21 after Konrad Abeltshausher sent a point shot on goal. The blast was stopped by Cousineau in the crease but Charles Bety was on the door step to pick up the rebound. He walked around the Saint John net minder and tied the game at 1-1.

Nathan Beaulieu let a big shot go after the goal but was robbed by the glove of Corbeil. Nicholas Petersen was sent in on a partial breakaway but was back checked nicely by a defender to keep the scoring chance at a minimum. At 7:21 Morin and Lemieux got into a short tilt that featured Lemieux going down, coming up, and going down again. Clear win for Morin.

Then the game started to get a bit chippy with the officials once again taking the spot light. Yann Sauve was called at 7:51 after some questionable interference was not called. Then at 10:20, Steve Gillard tied up Galiev who was loose on a breakaway but could only get a weak shot off.

On the power play, Galiev got the goal right back. He walked into the slot at 11:04 and ripped a low shot that hit something on its way in as the puck just trickled across the goal line to make it 2-1 Sea Dogs.

After Simon Despres took an elbowing call, play opened up a bit. Cousineau robbed Clarke with the leg on the Mooseheads’ best chance on the man advantage. Then while shorthanded, Jonathan Huberdeau was stopped on this rare occasion by a stretching leg of Corbeil.

After the despised Clarke absolutely steam rolled Petersen, Despres appeared willing to drop the gloves but the Moosehead would not bite. Then Cousineau made one of the best saves of his season when he denied Travis Randell with a huge glove save.

Some controversy took over from there as Petersen laid a big hit on former Wildcat Paul Dimitruk. He looked hurt on the play but was okay until Clarke dropped to the ice in a performance worthy of an Emmy award. That prompted the usually tame Tim Roszell to say “what is Clarke doing?”

Shots in the second were 16-10 in favour of the home team.

It was a wild third period that began with Tomas Knotek firing a onetime shot that beat Cousineau to tie the game at 2-2.

22 seconds later at 1:57 Zach Phillips picked up the puck in the crease of Corbeil. He went across the crease and roofed a beautiful backhand shot over the blocker of the Mooseheads net minder to give the Dogs back their lead.

Then at 3:15 Nathan Beaulieu let a point shot go that beat Corbeil high glove side to make it 4-2 Sea Dogs.

Then at 4:10 the Sea Dogs took the game over when Mike Hoffman let a shot go that just beat Corbeil in close and fell over the line. That ended Saint John’s run at three goals in four minutes.

Stephen MacAulay, who has found himself on the radar of NHL teams, was leveled along the boards by Clarke. He went down and skated off the ice but went down the tunnel to dressing room. He did not return.

Some rough stuff took place after that involving Kirkpatrick, Morin, Lemieux, and Gerard Grant. Out of the scrum, the two Sea Dogs’s players somehow got an extra two minutes each. On the five-on-three, the Mooseheads were held scoreless thanks to a nice effort by Saint John’s defense.

At 13:17 Kirkpatrick took a pass from his line mate and was left all alone in front of the net. He went forehand to backhand before he roofed the disc over Corbeil to make it 6-2 Saint John.

It looked like Halifax had cut their deficient to three goals when Andrews beat Cousineau. The goal was quickly called off by the official because of goaltender interference.

Saint John would not score on the power play, making the final score of this one 6-2 in favour of the visitors.

Shots in the third were 18-14 Haifax.

NOTES: See Station Nation tomorrow for Sea Dogs Post-Game Notebook.

NEXT GAME: Former goalie Marc-Antoine Gelinas and the Shawinigan Cataractes roll into town on Saturday night at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station.