KIRKPATRICK NETS RECORD IN LOPSIDED WIN

SN RECAP
FINAL: Screaming Eagles 2, Sea Dogs 7

SAINT JOHN – A fairly uneventful game on the ice turned into an eventful affair on the stats side.

The Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 7-2 on Friday night at Harbour Station, winning their sixth straight game and ninth straight on home ice. Saint John is now a perfect 9-0-0-0 at home this season.

But the big story revolved around forward Michael Kirkpatrick, who scored a franchise record setting 84th career goal. Kirkpatrick now holds the record over fellow Cape Breton native Ryan Sparling.

Zach Phillips scored a pair for Saint John while Gabriel Bourret, Stephen MacAulay, Kirkpatrick, Steven Anthony, and Kevin Gagne all scored singles. Goaltender Jacob DeSerres made 13 stops through 40 minutes before leaving because of an apparent groin injury. Frederic Piche stopped all 14 shots he faced in the third period.

Morgan Ellis and Cory MacIntosh each scored for the visitors. Alexandre Veronneau made 19 saves in the loss.

Ellis opened the scoring at 16:07 of the first when he accepted a pass and went in on a partial breakaway. The Eagles captain went upstairs of DeSerres to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

The Sea Dogs responded just over a minute later when a Gabriel Bourret point shot went through a high level of traffic and found the back of the cage to tie the match at 1-1.

In the second, Saint John took the lead at 2:38 with Wes Herrett in the box for holding. Tomas Jurco tried to center the puck from the corner but it hit the skate of a Cape Breton defenseman and was then deflected right to Phillips down low. Phillips had a yawning cage and made no mistake, giving the Sea Dogs a 2-1 lead.

At 8:51, Kirkpatrick centered the puck for a streaking Kevin Gagne who roofed it over Veronneau to make it a 3-1 game.

After Stanislav Galiev was taken down by an Eagle defender, a delayed penalty call was held against the Eagles. The Sea Dogs quickly got the extra attacker on and would connect. Kirkpatrick held the puck at the blue line and threaded a perfect pass down low to Steven Anthony who made it a three goal game at 14:35.

But the Eagles would not just go away. At 15:30, a pass from below the goal line found MacIntosh in front who went upstairs on DeSerres to make it a 4-2 game after two periods.

In the final frame, Phillips scored his second of the match at 9:03. He accepted a pass from behind the net and crept in along the goal line from the side boards. Phillips kept the puck and shot it from an impossible angle to make it a 5-2 game.

Ryan Tesink fed MacAulay with a beautiful pass at 10:01, which was finished off by the St. Louis Blues prospect wristing a shot past the blocker of the Eagles netminder.

Kirkpatrick finished off the scoring at 18:23 when he tipped a Guillaume Cloutier point shot past Veronneau to make it a 7-2 final.

Shots in the game were 29-26 in favour of the Sea Dogs.

Saint John was one-for-three on the power play while the Cape Breton went one-for-five.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow.

NEXT GAME: Tonight at 7:00 pm at Harbour Station against Chicoutimi.