POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 5, Titan 6 (SO)

A collection of recaps from yesterday’s 6-5 Saint John Sea Dogs shootout loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan…

Our recap. Special teams were the story as Saint John went just 1-for-9 on the power play and killed off just one of four penalties en route to a 6-5 shootout loss to Acadie-Bathurst Titan in front of a sparse crowd at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap. "The guys never quit," added the Titan coach Eric Dubois. "They could have collapsed after Saint John came back but they stuck to it and kept working hard. We are going to deserve that day off (Monday)."

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Zack Phillips had four assists for the visiting Sea Dogs, who picked up a point for the eighth straight game to run their record to 21-6-0-1. Phillips now has points in 16 straight games, the longest streak in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and a team record.

LeTitan.com’s recap. The Titan dominated the overtime session.

The Canadian Press’ recap. Alec Jon Banville led the Titan (10-14-3) with two goals in regulation time as Mirko Hoefflin, Olivier Houle and O'Brien each added singles.

SN Live Blog replay. Bathurst’s Zamboni has a large hamburger painted on it.

MISSING IN ACTION: Aidan Kelly, who took a head shot on Friday from PEI Rocket defenseman Jimmy Oligny, did not play. He is day-to-day with an ‘upper-body’ injury, reports News 88.9. He will not play Tuesday in Quebec City.

Here is video of the hit courtesy of HockeyFights.com.

Oligny did not play for the Rocket yesterday in their loss to the Victoriaville Tigres.

Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau and Stanislav Galiev were out once again. Forward Devon Oliver-Dares and defenseman Tyrone Sock are currently not with the team.

WIN STREAK: Saint John’s seven-game winning streak came to end on Sunday. The Sea Dogs now have won seven straight games twice this season but have been unable to get any further.

Saint John hadn’t lost since November 2 when they fell 4-3 in Rimouski.

PHILLIPS: Zack Phillips extended his point streak to 16 games on Sunday with an assist on Ryan Tesink’s first period marker. He added three more assists in the loss.

The streak is the longest in the QMJHL this season and a team record.

AUGER: Sebastien Auger had a new look on Sunday afternoon, finally sporting blue and white equipment instead of the red. He had a rough first period, allowing two power play goals on just four shots and five on 22 shots overall in the game. 16 of the 22 shots came in regulation.

“I thought their young kid (Brennan) made some real good saves in the net,” said Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant to the Telegraph-Journal. “Our guy (Auger) didn't get tested a lot but I don't really blame him.”

Although you definitely can’t blame all the goals on Auger, allowing five goals on 16 shots during regulation time just isn’t going to get the job done on most nights.

Auger has struggled in Bathurst this season. He allowed eight goals in a game on September 9 to go along with the five yesterday.

IN BATHURST: The Sea Dogs fell to 0-2 on the season when playing in Bathurst. They lost 8-1 to the Titan on September 9 at the KC Irving Regional Centre when they had a depleted lineup due to NHL camps.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Saint John’s power play was hot heading into the game but cooled down in a big way. The Sea Dogs went just 1-for-9 on the power play.

"We didn't take advantage of our chances and special teams were definitely the difference in the game," said Gallant to theTelegraph-Journal.

The Sea Dogs’ penalty kill had a bad night as well, allowing three Titan goals on four opportunities. Bathurst went 3-for-5 on the man advantage in the September 9 game.

PHILLIPS RECAP: The Minnesota Wild blog ‘Hockey Wilderness’ has an solid recap of the game and a thorough tracking of Zack Phillips’ performance.

The first period was basically all Sea Dogs, but there's one side of their game that clearly didn't work today: The special teams. They were HORRENDOUS. Especially the PK. The Titans scored 2 goals in 15 minutes... on their first two shots in the game... both on the powerplay... both by eventual first star of the game Alec Jon Banville... he of the 9 points in 22 games. (11 in 23 now). After those two goals however, the Zack Phillips show began.

The post is worth checking out.

JURCO: Tomas Jurco had a good night, scoring twice to give him 16 goals on the year. Jurco was not on the bench for most of the third period though and did not play again. His status is unknown. 

QUICK HITS: Only 1,143 fans took in the game at the KC Irving Regional Centre. Yikes… Nathan Beaulieu led the Sea Dogs with seven shots. Kevin Gagne had six… Matthew Bissonnette had a Titan high six shots in goal… Danick Gauthier had three hits… Jordan Murray had four hits for Bathurst… the Sea Dogs went just 28/71 in faceoff circle… News 88.9 was on commercial break when Kevin Gagne scored to put the Sea Dogs ahead 5-4. Tough break for them.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs’ travel to Quebec City to face the Remparts at 8pm on Tuesday.

Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation