SAINT JOHN – The Acadie-Bathurst Titan know how to beat the Saint John Sea Dogs.
In the fourth meeting of the season between the two teams, the Titan won their third game on Friday night at Harbour Station, downing the Dogs 3-2 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
Bathurst’s top line was the story once again as Matthew Bissonnette, Zach O’Brien, and Sebastien Trudeau all scored in the win. O’Brien and Trudeau also picked up assists. Robert Steeves was solid in goal, making 33 stops on this night.
The story was the same for the Sea Dogs – things just didn’t click. They were flat. They were missing that extra jump. Despite outshooting Bathurst 35-17, the Dogs never led in this game. They had plenty of pressure in the final minutes but were unable to tie it up.
Aidan Kelly and Danick Gauthier both scored for Saint John in the loss. Mathieu Corbeil allowed three goals on 17 shots.
The loss was the Sea Dogs’ second straight at Harbour Station. The Dogs are now 6-3-0-1 in their last 10 games and have not won a contest in regulation over the past four matches. It’s becoming clearer game-by-game that Saint John’s depleted lineup is becoming more and more of a factor.
Things won’t get any easier for Saint John as their leading scorer, Zack Phillips, and one of their offensive defensemen, Nathan Beaulieu, leave for Team Canada’s world junior selection camp tomorrow morning and will miss at least Saturday and Sunday’s game against the high flying Halifax Mooseheads. The Mooseheads lost 6-1 in Charlottetown against the worst team in the league tonight. So, there is hope. There is definitely hope.
Bathurst was the better team in the first half of the opening frame and had two power plays early on. At 6:48, Nathan Beaulieu headed off for high sticking but the Titan couldn’t get much going on the power play. Then at 9:49, Oliver Cooper served a too many men penalty. The Sea Dogs would kill that off as well and had a decent scoring chance when Beaulieu got around the Bathurst defense and cut to the net but was stopped.
Saint John headed to a power play of their own at 14:48 after Jordan Murray tripped Tomas Jurco. The Dogs had some decent pressure but no great chances.
The Dogs turned it on late in the period and managed to take a 9-8 shots lead into the dressing room. The first period was so uneventful that the Harbour Station scoreboard showed kiss cam/fans waiving as part of the first period highlight package.
The Sea Dogs headed back to the power play at 2:30 but once again couldn’t get much going. At 7:01, Grant West interfered with Titan netminder Robert Steeves and headed off. The Titan had some good pressure on the man advantage but couldn’t connect.
Just after West stepped out of the sin bin, Bathurst opened the scoring at 9:10. The puck was centered for Matthew Bissonnette in the high slot who crept in towards the crease and fired a backhander over the blocker of Mathieu Corbeil to make it 1-0 Titan.
Saint John would tie the match at 1-1 at 18:59. Danick Gauthier beat a Titan player to the puck and managed to swing the puck over to Aidan Kelly who was streaking in. As Steeves went for a poke check, Kelly backhanded the puck high and past the Bathurst goaltender to even the score.
The Sea Dogs dominated the shot clock, firing 13 shots to the Titan’s three.
Bathurst made it a 2-1 game at 2:09 of the third. Zach O’Brien was at the top of the circle and blasted a shot over the shoulder of Corbeil to give Bathurst the lead.
Things got even worse for Saint John at 6:29. Pierre Durepos and Scott Oke got their singles crossed in the Saint John zone, allowing Sebastien Trudeau to steal the puck. As Trudeau was falling, the Titan forward slipped the puck five-hole to extend the Titan’s lead.
Saint John went to the power play at 12:53 but failed to connect on their big opportunity.
Shortly after the man advantage ended at 15:02, a loose puck came to Gauthier in front who beat Steeves glove side to make it a one-goal affair.
The Dogs continued to put the pressure on in the final minutes. Despite getting plenty of scoring chances, the Dogs couldn’t tie it and fell 3-2.
Shots were 13-6 Saint John in the third.
Both teams went 0-for-3 on the man advantage.
MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau (foot), Stanislav Galiev (wrist) and Ryan Tesink (knee) all missed the game because of injuries. Defenseman Ian Saab also missed the contest with what News 88.9 called a “minor upper-body injury.”
RETURNING: Defenseman Jason Seed returned to the lineup after missing both of last weekend’s games with an upper-body injury. He was the victim of Olivier D’Aauost’s hit that cost him an eight-game suspension.
STREAK: To make things even worse on this night, Zack Phillips’ point streak came to an end at 22 games. He was originally awarded a helper on Danick Gauthier’s third period goal but it was quickly taken away and given to Charles-Olivier Roussel.
PEACE OUT: This was Zack Phillips’ and Nathan Beaulieu’s last game with the Sea Dogs before they head to Calgary to take part in Canada’s world junior selection camp. The camp begins tomorrow and runs through December 14.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads tomorrow night at 7pm at Harbour Station. The game will feature the annual ‘Teddy Bear Toss’ when the Sea Dogs score their first goal. Nathan MacKinnon was injured in Charlottetown on Friday and missed most of the game. His status for Saturday’s game is unkown.
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