RECAP: Home Sweet Home. Dogs Win 5-2.

FINAL: Cape Breton 2, Saint John 5

SAINT JOHN – Harbour Station has been good to the Saint John Sea Dogs this season.

The Sea Dogs won their 13^th consecutive home game on Friday night, defeating the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 5-2. The win tied a Sea Dogs team record for consecutive home victories, a record they can break tonight at 7pm against the very same Eagles team.

The Sea Dogs got off to a slow start and were down 2-0 early in the second period. But Saint John would go on to score five unanswered goals and take the game.

Danick Gauthier, Tomas Jurco, Scott Oke, Nathan Beaulieu and Grant West all scored for Saint John. Charles-Olivier Roussel had two assists. Mathieu Corbeil made 17 saves in the win.

Zack Phillips recorded an assist on Beaulieu’s third period goal to extend his point streak to 18 games.

Cape Breton had goals courtesy of Jonathan Brunelle and David Rose. Alexandre Veronneau allowed five goals on 20 shots while Philippe Trudeau made one save in relief.

The Sea Dogs were lucky to get out of the first period down just a goal. Saint John took three minor penalties in the frame, but the Eagles, who have a terrible power play rating on the road this season, failed to connect on any of their opportunities.

At 14:59 of the first, Grant West and Blake Millman dropped the gloves in what was an underwhelming scrap between two of the league’s heavyweights.

The Eagles opened the scoring at 17:13. William Carrier and Brunelle performed a beautiful give-and-go. The play ended with Brunelle having a wide open cage to put the visitors up 1-0.

Shots were 9-4 in favour of the Eagles in the opening stanza.

Just 28 seconds into the second, a Stephen Woodworth point shot was put in by David Rose to give Cape Breton a 2-0 lead.

But the Sea Dogs responded at the 43-second mark. Scott Oke came down the wing and centered the puck for a streaking Danick Gauthier. The 20-year old made a move to get around Alexandre Veronneau and make it a 2-1 game.

Then at 1:56, Jurco came out from along the goal line and made some room for himself in front. He snipped the puck past Veronneau to tie the match up at 2-2.

Fight night continued at 4:27 as Roman Hrabarenko and Ian Saab dropped the gloves for a spirited scrap. Then just two seconds later, Denis Creighton and Kyle Campbell took part in an exchange of fisticuffs.

The Sea Dogs took the lead at 11:56 as Oke fired a hard wrist shot upstairs and past Veronneau to make it a 3-2 contest.

Saint John had two power plays in the period but couldn’t connect on either. Shots were 10-6 in favour of the Sea Dogs in the middle frame.

Nathan Beaulieu made it a 4-2 Sea Dogs lead just 24 seconds into the third. He fired a shot from inside the line that went upstairs on Veronneau.

Grant West then made it a 5-2 game at 4:55. He came across the line and made some moves to get around the defense. He then put a little deke on Veronneau in close, pushing the puck in to extend Saint John’s lead. That goal chased Veronneau from the Eagles goal, but it’s not like it would mater as the Dogs went on to win.

Shots were 7-4 Sea Dogs in the third period.

Saint John went 0-for-3 on the power play while Cape Breton went 0-for-5.

Photo Credit: SeaDogsTV