DOGS BEAT DOWN TITAN

SN RECAP
FINAL: Titan 2, Sea Dogs 7

SAINT JOHN – A second period outburst was enough to propel the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 7-2 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan Wednesday night at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

As a blizzard wrecked havoc outside the building, Tomas Jurco scored a pair of goals for the second consecutive game while Jonathan Huberdeau also scored two. Singles came courtesy of Stephen MacAulay, Michael Kirkpatrick, and Steven Anthony. Goaltender Jacob DeSerres wasn’t too busy in net, only facing 16 shots in the win.

The Titan had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes but the Sea Dogs turned on the jets in the second period, scoring early and often to allow them to cruise to victory.

Bathurst, battling some injury issues going into the match, just didn’t look good at all after the opening frame. Two penalties on the same play by Garrett Clarke gave the Sea Dogs a four-minute power play and they would cash in twice during the span. It was meltdown mode for the Titan after that.

Jordan Murray and Sebastien Trudeau scored the lone goals for the visitors. Bathurst backup Robert Steeves played the full 60 minutes, allowing seven goals on 43 shots.

Saint John also played a lot more disciplined than they had over the past few games, giving the Titan only one power play opportunity.

FIRST PERIOD
Bathurst opened the scoring at 1:41 as Jordan Murray broke loose on an odd man rush. Murray split through the Sea Dogs defense and, while partially falling down, was able to put enough on a shot to sneek the disc under Sea Dogs goaltender Jacob DeSerres to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

Saint John went to the power play at 2:44 but couldn’t get much of anything going during the span.

Back at even strength, Alexandre Beauregard let a wrist shot go in the slot but just sent the disc wide of the goal. Then, Stephen MacAulay was in front but was denied by Titan netminder Robert Steeves. Soon after Beauregard sent a nice cross crease pass to Danick Gauthier at the other side of the crease but was robbed by Steeves’ pad.

A little later, Zack O’Brien sent a dangerous looking backhand shot on goal but was denied. Back the other way, Stanislav Galiev was on an odd man rush but sent a spin pass to the open lane where no Sea Dog stood.

The Sea Dogs went back to the power play at 19:40 but could not connect as the frame came to a close.

Shots in the opening frame were 12-3 Sea Dogs.

SECOND PERIOD
The Sea Dogs came flying out of the gate to start the second period. On the power play that carried over, an Eric Gelinas shot was stopped but Michael Kirkpatrick was able to bang home the rebound to tie the match at 1-1 at 0:58.

Not long after at 2:14, a Steven Anthony wrist shot from the slot beat Steeves low to stun the Titan and give the Dogs a quick 2-1 advantage.

Jeremie Blain went to the box at 2:56 to give Saint John yet another man advantage opportunity. But while shorthanded, the Titan had a few good chances as Lessard sent a shot off the net and Garrett Clarke was denied in close by DeSerres.

With the man advantage over, the Sea Dogs really started to carry the play. Scott Oke sent a nice pass to Mike Thomas who sent a shot high. Then, Vincent Arseneau had a good chance at the other end as he came streaking into the zone but was denied by DeSerres.

At 10:17, Clarke took a kneeing penalty and then took another penalty for slashing DeSerres, giving the Sea Dog a long power play. Phillips had the first good chance as he was stopped by the blocker of Steeves and then Gelinas was stopped on the rebound.

The Sea Dogs made it a 3-1 game as Tomas Jurco went in alone, beating Steeves with a backhand roof job to extend Saint John’s lead.

Still on the power play at 12:24, Jurco scored his second straight goal by banging in a rebound, giving the Dogs a sudden 4-1 lead. They wouldn’t stop there, either, as Jonathan Huberdeau sent a shot through traffic at 14:17, appearing to hit something on the way by, and getting past the Titan netminder to make it a 5-1 match.

Simon Despres and Malouin dropped the gloves in a brief and uneventful fight at 14:17 as the Titan tried to get energized again. They seemed to get sparked a little bit by the tilt as Sebastien Trudeau broke loose on a partial break and beat DeSerres five-hole to make it a 5-2 game.

Saint John had a late flurry of shots but Steeves was dialed in and kept the Titan within three going into the intermission.

Shots in the second stanza were 18-9 Saint John.

THIRD PERIOD
DeSerres came up big early in the frame as he made a nice cross-crease pad stop to keep momentum going in Saint John’s favour.

The Sea Dogs were forced to kill a penalty at 2:49 as Gabriel Bourret headed off. Just after the penalty ended, Huberdeau beat Steeves from along the goal line at an impossible angle to give the Dogs a 6-2 lead. Then at 5:31, MacAulay picked up his own rebound and managed to beat Steeves on his second try to give Saint John a 7-2 lead.

Bathurst continued to take penalties as Olivier Houle was called for delay of game at 11:18. Beaulieu and Jurco broke in on a two-on-none which featured Steeves stopping Beaulieu’s shot. Then a few moments later, Sea Dogs netminder Jacob DeSerres came way out of the net to get the puck away from a Bathurst player.

Back at even strength, Trudeau had a decent opportunity for the Titan as he deked to the backhand but couldn’t keep the puck on his stick to finish it off.

On yet another man advantage late in the game, Beaulieu ripped a shot off the crossbar. With the power play over, Ryan Tesink had the last glorious scoring chance as he sent the disc through the blue paint.

Shots in the third were 13-4 Sea Dogs.

Saint John went a solid 3-for-8 on the man advantage while Bathurst went 0-for-1.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs travel to Moncton on Friday to face the Wildcats at 7:30pm.