COMEBACK THRILLER

STATION NATION RECAP
FINAL: Tigres 2, Sea Dogs 4

SAINT JOHN – In a game that had a little bit of everything, it seemed fitting that tough guy and Saint John Sea Dogs captain Mike Thomas would record the game winner.

"This was a huge win for us,” said Thomas after the game on the Sea Dogs’ official Twitter page.

The Sea Dogs battled back from a two goal deficit in the first period to take game one of the best-of-seven series 4-2.

“We really battled hard after falling behind early,” Thomas said. “We're thrilled to be up 1-0."

It was the night of Mike’s for the Sea Dogs as all three scorers had identical first names. Michael Kirkpatrick had a pair while singles came from Mike Hoffman and Thomas.

Brandon Hynes and Guillaume Goulet scored for the Tigres.

Marco Cousineau was sensational in the Sea Dogs crease, stopping 27 of 29 shots. Kevin Poulin was equally as good but picked up the loss after facing 32 shots on the night.

Saint John went 1/4 on the power play while Victoriaville went 0/2.

FIRST PERIOD
Brandon Hynes had the best chance for Victoriaville early on, missing an open net with a high shot. Following the goal opportunity, there were several minutes of back-and-forth play with both teams getting shots off.

The Tigres opened the scoring at 6:32. A shot was rebounded off a Saint John defender in front of the crease. The puck found its way to the side of the net for Hynes who had a wide open cage to make it 1-0 for the visitors.

Shortly after Hynes was stopped again, Joel Champagne won a draw clearly next to the Saint John goal. The puck shot back to Guillaume Goulet who one timed it by Marco Cousineau over the blocker to double the Tigres’ lead.

But Saint John finally found their legs at 10:26. Nicholas Petersen gave a short pass to Michael Kirkpatrick as the two entered the Victoriaville zone. The streaking Kirkpatrick let a wrist shot go that beat a sprawling Kevin Poulin to get the Dogs back in the game.

The Sea Dogs slowly took control from there. Stanislav Galiev was parked in front and took a pass from behind the goal but was stopped by Poulin. Then Mike Hoffman fed a speeding Yann Sauve who had a wide open net but sent his shot off the crossbar. Stephen MacAulay finished off the quality scoring chances with a solid wraparound opportunity stopped by the Tigres net minder.

Samuel Groulx and Hoffman had a hugging match to end the period. Groulx clung on to Hoffman in the corner with the official staring at them for a good 10 seconds.

Shots in the first period were 11-7 for the team from the Telus Central Division.

SECOND PERIOD
Champagne took the games first penalty at 2:01 of the second period. Saint John was firing on all cylinders on the man advantage and had several chances to tie the tilt. Galiev had a great chance in close but made to many moves to get a good shot off. Then a blast from inside the point was tipped five hole but was stopped as it touched the goal line.

With Champagne out of the box, he had a great chance to finish off a two-on-one but the puck bounced over his stick.

The Dogs took control from there. Jonathan Huberdeau fed Nathan Beaulieu but he let one go wide. Nicholas Pard then had an opportunity with an off balance wrist shot finding its way through the Tigres’ crease. But Huberdeau looked like he was going to tie the game later on during a breakaway but Poulin read the Saint John playoff hero beautifully and got the pad down.

Emmanuel Boudreau got called for interference at 13:49. But Saint John had an awful power play against the league’s best penalty kill, failing to get any pressure during the two minute span.
With the Sea Dogs man advantage over, Victoriaville broke in on a two-on-one but Pierre Durepos got down to block the pass.

Cousineau came up big with the glove in final minutes of the middle frame, robbing Tomas Kubalik with a sick glove save. The Saint John net minder was tested soon after down low, forcing Cousineau to flap his pads like an arcade game.

Steven Anthony, fresh off his groin injury, nailed Joel Chouinard along the boards at 19:57 to give the Tigres a power play to open the third period.

Shots in the second were 12-7 Saint John.

THIRD PERIOD
The best chance for the visitors on their one man up edge came when Philip-Michael Devos was stoned by a huge glove stop by Cousineau. Saint John put an excellent penalty kill unit to work to shut down the Tigres power play.

The QMJHL MVP Hoffman tied the game at 3:06. Galiev fed the streaking 20-year old who sent a low shot under Poulin to send Harbour Station into rally towel waving craziness.

Gabriel Bourret almost gave Saint John the lead quickly after the Dogs tied it. The rookie defenseman took a pass from Petersen but Bourret ringed the disc off the iron. Shortly after, Kubalik was robed with a quick pad save by Cousineau.

Yannick Dube sent the Tigres back to the penalty kill at 13:13. But Saint John failed to get any quality scoring chances and only registered one shot.

The Sea Dogs took the lead at 15:54 thanks to a shot off Captain Mike Thomas’ stick. Following a missed penalty call against Victoriaville, Danick Gauthier managed to send a pass to Thomas from along the boards. The Dogs forward quickly got a shot off and beat Poulin off the glove hand to make it 3-2 for the Port City.

Groulx got called for tripping at 16:41, forcing Tigres head coach Yanick Jean to stand on the edge of the boards and scream at the officials.

Saint John made the Tigres pay on the power play. After Tomas Jurco missed an empty cage, Petersen sent a cross ice pass from the point down low to Kirkpatrick. The 19-year old had lots of time to get a shot off - and did so - to make it 4-2 Dogs.

Poulin came out the Tigres’ crease late to form the man advantage, but it was to late as Saint John came back to take the game.

Shots in the third were 13-11 Saint John.

NEXT GAME: Game two is tonight at 8:00 pm at Harbour Station.