RECAP: Ugly. Dogs Lose 8-3.

FINAL: Chicoutimi 8, Saint John 3

SAINT JOHN – Etienne Brodeur looked like the Etienne Brodeau of old on Sunday afternoon at Harbour Station.

The former Lewiston Maineiacs sniper netted a hat trick in the Chicoutimi Sagueneens' 8-3 stomping over the Saint John Sea Dogs. Brodeur, who scored a league high 53 goals a season ago, had just eight entering tonight’s game. He also had two assists in his team's big win.

Charles Hudon added a pair for the winners while singles came from Andrew O’Brien, Lukas Sedlak, and Dominic Poulin. Goaltender Christopher Gibson made 26 saves for the win.

The Sea Dogs were just terrible in this one. They managed to stick around in the first two periods as the Sags led just 4-3 through 40 minutes. But things fell apart in the third as Chicoutimi scored four goals on 15 shots in the frame.

Give credit to the Sags. This was their third game in three days. They came to play and put in a strong effort. The Sea Dogs didn’t do that.

The loss ended Saint John’s home winning streak at 15 games. They had not lost at Harbour Station since opening night on September 8.

Tomas Jurco scored twice for Saint John and Charles-Olivier Roussel added a solo marker. One of the few bright spots of the game was that Zack Phillips picked up an assist, extending his point streak to 22 games.

Mathieu Corbeil started in goal but was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots. Sebastien Auger took over but didn’t do much better, allowing four goals on 20 shots.

The Sea Dogs clearly have some stuff to work on this week. Things don’t get much easier next weekend with two games against Halifax and one against Bathurst.

The Sagueneens opened the scoring at 4:13. Guillaume Asselin was behind the goal and then snt a pass out in front to Charles Hudon. The Sags forward ripped a hard shot from the slot that went high glove side on Sea Dogs goaltender Mathieu Corbeil.

The Dogs headed back to the man advantage at 5:31. A few seconds after Zack Phillips hit the post, Nathan Beaulieu had the puck at the line and crept in after making a nice spin-o-rama move. He centered the puck where Charles-Olivier Roussel tipped it on goal, beating Christopherf Gibson to make it a 1-1 contest.

Some rough stuff behind the Saint John goal at 12:57 resulted in some four-on-four play. During that span at 14:15, Tomas Jurco came out from behind the net and fired a shot on goal from the faceoff circle that beat Gibson up high to give the Sea Dogs a 2-1 lead.

Chicoutimi tied it up at 16:28 as Etienne Brodeur was parked at the side of the goal and beat Corbeil to tie it up at 2-2.

At 18:53, Ian Saab and Alexandre Roy had a short fight before the two fell to the ice.

Shots were 10-8 in favour of the visitors in the opening frame.

Just seven seconds into the second, Gibson flipped the puck over the glass to put the Sea Dogs on the power play. On the man advantage, the Dogs couldn’t get much of anything going and the game remained tied.

The Sags took a 3-2 lead at 3:57. Brodeur simply put on the brakes at the top of the circle, wound up, and fired a bullet past Corbeil to put the visitors up by a goal.

Chicoutimi made it a 4-2 contest at 8:50. Corbeil had lost his goal stick in the crease and went down to grab it. While he was doing that, the puck came to Dominic Poulin who blasted a point shot past a surprised Sea Dogs goaltender to double to the Sagueneens’ lead. Corbeil wasn’t happy with the officials on the goal. The Dogs yanked him following the marker, replacing him with Sebastien Auger.

Saint John got back within one at 12:17. Roussel sent a pass over to Jurco who was at the rim of the faceoff circle. The Slovak beat Gibson high blocker side to make it a 4-3 game.

The rough stuff picked up as the period went on as both teams took some roughing penalties late in the period.

Shots were 12-12 in the middle stanza.

The third period was a complete disaster.

Hudon finished off a two-on-one at 2:11 to make it a 5-3 game.

Then at 4:35, Brodeur beat Auger glove side on a two-on-one to give the Sags a 6-3 advantage.

Midway through the third, Alexandre Roy nailed the post.

Andrew O’Brien scored 12:30 to put the Sags up 7-3. The goal went under a quick review to see if it was kicked in but it was ruled a good goal.

Finally, at 14:28, Sedlak jammed the puck under Auger to make it an 8-3 final. Brutal.

Shots were 15-9 Chicoutimi in the third period.

Saint John went 1-for-4 on the power play while Chicoutimi went 0-for-1.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Friday at Harbour Station at 7:30pm.