Dogs Down Drakkar

FINAL: Saint John 7, Baie-Comeau 0

BAIE-COMEAU, Que. – The Saint John Sea Dogs bounced back from their 4-3 loss on Wednesday with a solid 7-0 victory over the Baie-Comeau Drakkar on Friday night in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at the Henry Leonard Centre.

Seven different players – Spencer MacDonald, Kevin Gagne, Jonathan Huberdeau, Grant West, Zack Phillips, Oliver Cooper and Danick Gauthier – scored in the win. Only four Sea Dog players failed to record a point in the blowout.

Goaltender Mathieu Corbeil picked up his fourth shutout of the year, making 30 stops.

Baie-Comeau netminder Antonio Mastropietro allowed seven goals on 32 shots in the loss.

It was a good bounce-back game for the Dogs after a disappointing 4-3 loss in Rimouski on Wednesday. Even though the Drakkr kept the shot total close throughout the game, it always felt like Saint John was in control.

The Sea Dogs led 3-0 after one and 6-0 after two.

The Dogs and Drakkar battle again tomorrow at 5pm in Baie-Comeau.

FIRST PERIOD

Saint John made it 1-0 at 2:20 of the opening frame as a Spencer MacDonald point shot beat Antonio Mastropietro high glove side. It was MacDonald’s first career QMJHL goal.

At 3:42, Samuel Noreau and Grant West dropped the gloves. We’ll give Noreau the decision.

Tomas Jurco headed to the box at 4:51 but the Dogs put together a good kill to keep their lead.

During some four-on-four play, Jonathan Huberdeau nearly made it 2-0 but he nailed the crossbar. Then at 9:53, Tomas Filippi hit Ryan Tesink from behind. Filippi and Ian Saab both headed to the box after the hit while Tesink, after sitting on the ice for a few moments, headed to the dressing room. He did not return.

The penalties kept on coming as Baie-Comeau headed to a two-man advantage at 11:53 after Charles-Olivier Roussel headed off and then the Saint John bench was given a penalty following some yelling from head coach Gerard Gallant. Alexandre Durette had the best chance for Baie-Comeau during the span but missed a wide open net.

After the Dogs successfully killed all the penalties, they headed to the man advantage at 14:33. On the power play, Kevin Gagne let a point shot go that beat Mastropietro blocker side to make it a 2-0 Sea Dogs lead. The puck appeared to change directions but credit was given to Gagne.

Huberdeau made it a 3-0 game at 18:05. He broke in on a short breakaway and pulled off his usual move to the forehand to extend Saint John’s lead.

Late in the frame, flashbacks of the 2010 President’s Cup Final shot into everybody’s brain as Gallant and Baie-Comeau head coach Mario Pouliot had a heated exchange of words between the benches. Nothing would come out of it, though.

Shots were 14-11 Baie-Comeau in the opening frame.

SECOND PERIOD

Early in the second, Oliver Cooper had a good chance in front but was denied by Mastropietro.

The Sea Dogs went up 4-0 at 5:14. Grant West, on his knees at the top of the crease, scored a beautiful goal as he batted the puck in to extend Saint John’s lead. Jason Cameron and the newly acquired Denis Creighton picked up assists.

The Sea Dogs made it a 5-0 game at 8:14. Zack Phillips had the puck and crossed the line with Huberdeau on a two-on-one. Phillips kept the puck and snipped one high glove side.

Saint John headed to the man advantage at nine-minute mark. The Dogs had some good pressure on but couldn’t get many great scoring chances.

Later on, during a scrum in the crease, Phillips had another good chance but couldn’t connect. Soon after, Stephen MacAulay had disc at the bottom of the circle. He spun and got a shot off but Mastropietro got his leg out to make the stop.

The Sea Dogs headed back to the power play 17:40. With just one second remaining on the man advantage, Pierre Durepos’ point shot rebounded to Cooper who made it a 6-0 Saint John lead after two.

Shots were 13-8 Saint John in the middle stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

It was a fairly uneventful third period.

Early in the frame, Jurco went in on a short break and tried to score on a deke but was stopped by Mastropietro. After that, both teams took part in some back-and-forth play for several minutes.

I little later on, Filippi threw a backhand shot on goal that was stopped by Corbeil.

At 11:22, Danick Gauthier scored his 19^th goal in his 19^th game of the season to give the Dogs a 7-0 lead. The 20-year old finished a pretty passing play involving Huberdeau and Aidan Kelly.

That was about it for the third frame. Sea Dogs win 7-0.

Shots were eight apiece in the final 20 minutes.

Saint John went 2-for-3 on the power play while Baie-Comeau went 0-for-4.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Drakkar meet again tomorrow at 5pm at the Henry Leonard Centre.