Saint John Pounds PEI

FINAL: PEI 3, Saint John 10

SAINT JOHN – A seven goal second period propelled the Saint John Sea Dogs past the PEI Rocket on Saturday night at Harbour Station.

Danick Gauthier had yet another hat trick while Zack Phillips, Jonathan Huberdeau, Scott Oke, Aidan Kelly, Pierre Durepos, Oliver Cooper and Nathan Beaulieu also scored in Saint John’s 10-3 blowout win over the Rocket.

Huberdeau also had three assists. Tomas Jurco, Ryan Tesink and Charles-Olivier Roussel all had a pair of helpers each.

Sebastien Auger made 19 saves in the win.

The Rocket scored the game’s opening goal but that would be just about the only bright spot for them. The Sea Dogs dominated most of the game, holding period leads of 2-1 and 9-1. Saint John outshot PEI 48-22 with 12 of the Rocket’s shots coming in the final frame.

Saint John was so dominant that at one point Phillips had the same amount of shots on goal as the entire Rocket team.

Josh Currie scored twice for PEI while Victor Provencher chipped in with one marker. Maxime Lagace allowed eight goals on 31 shots before getting yanked. Antoine Bibeau allowed two goals on 17 shots in relief.

PEI struck first at 1:11. Currie came across the line and fired a wrist shot from the dot that beat Auger low blocker side to give the Rocket a 1-0 lead.

Saint John went to the power play at 8:43 as Pier-Antoine Dion was called for slashing. But on the man advantage, the Dogs couldn’t produce much of anything and it remained scoreless.

The Sea Dogs made it a 1-1 game at 12:14. Gauthier beat Lagace with a wrist shot to net his 12^th marker of the campaign. Saint John took the lead at 17:03 as Phillips scored to make it 2-1 for the home side.

The Dogs went to another power play at 18:51. On the man advantage, Jurco had a wide open cage but the puck jumped over his stick.

Shots were 20-8 Sea Dogs in the opening frame.

In the second period, Gauthier opened the scoring at 2:11 on the power play. Ryan Tesink centered the puck and Gauthier slid it past Lagace to make it 3-1.

Shortly after Matthew Hobbs put a big hit on Oke, Aidan Kelly went upstairs with Lagace down to give Saint John a 4-1 advantage.

The rough stuff started up after that. Ian Saab and Alex Gallant dropped the gloves followed by Spencer MacDonald taking on Jimmy Oligny.

Durepos made it a 5-1 affair at 8:49 as he blasted a point shot past Lagace.

The Rocket went to the man advantage at 12:57 but the Sea Dogs would be the ones who would connect. Gauthier netted his hat trick goal at 13:44, snipping the puck past Lagace on a short break.

It became a 7-1 lead at 15:46 as Oke, while falling, ripped the disc top corner to extend Saint John’s lead. Cooper made it 8-1 at 16:18 as the puck trickled across the line, signalling the end of Lagace’s night.

Saint John went to a two man power play at 16:25. Huberdeau made it 9-1 on the man advantage, sliding the puck under Antoine Bibeau.

Shots were 14-2 Saint John in the second.

In the third, the Rocket generated some life as Procencher scored on a two-on-one to make it a 9-2 game.

A little later on at 5:34 on a power play, Currie banged in a rebound for his second of the night to make it a six-goal game.

Beaulieu got Saint John back on the board as he ripped the puck past Bibeau in the slot to get the Dogs into double-digits.

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 18:43 after Rocket head coach Gordie Dwyer lost his cool on the bench. But Saint John couldn’t add to their big lead, making it a 10-3 final.

Shots were 14-12 Saint John in the final stanza.

The Sea Dogs went 2-for-6 on the man advantage while PEI went 1-for-2.

PINK: The Sea Dogs sported some beautiful black and pink jerseys for 'Pink in the Rink' this year. The black sweaters had pink and white trimming with white name plates on the back. The jerseys were auctioned off and given to the winners after the game.

PHILLIPS’ SHOTS: Zack Phillips was firing on all cylinders Saturday night. The Minnesota Wild prospect had 10 shots through two periods – matching the Rocket’s total shots on net through two. 

NOT PLAYING: Devon Oliver-Dares, Tyrone Sock and Stanislav Galiev were out of the lineup for Saint John.

HIGHLIGHTS: Here are the SeaDogsTV highlights.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Quebec Remparts tomorrow afternoon at 3pm at Harbour Station.