GAMEDAY 43 - vs Moncton

GAMEDAY

Moncton Wildcats vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight at 7pm

Radio: News 88.9 | Webcast: Telus | TV: None | Live Blog: SN

Harbour Station – Saint John, NB

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – The Moncton Wildcats snapped their eight-game losing streak on Saturday, beating the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-2. The two provincial rivals meet again tonight at Harbour Station for the second half of the annual New Year’s home-and-home series. Game time this evening is 7pm

The Sea Dogs enter tonight’s contest on a three-game losing skid and are 4-5-0-1 in their last 10 games. They are 28-12-0-2 overall and still sit first in the Maritimes Division and second overall in the league. The Quebec Remparts are two points up on the Sea Dogs and have played three fewer games.

The Dogs are 16-3-0-1 at Harbour Station this season and gave outscored opponents 99-54.

Moncton enters tonight’s game with a record of 18-19-3-0 and sit fourth in the Maritimes Division and  12^th overall in the league. The Wildcats are just 2-7-1-0 in their last 10 games.

The ‘Cats are 7-13-0-0 away from the Moncton Coliseum this year and have been outscored 78-47.

FOOD DRIVE

Saint John’s portion of the Rivalry Cup food drive is today. The game will feature a special food drive for the Community Food Basket. Saint John’s donations will be measured against those gathered Saturday in Moncton. The city donating the most food by weight will earn three extra points in the Rivalry Cup.

NUMBERS

	Moncton	Saint John
Record	18-19-3-0 (3rd Maritimes)	28-12-0-2 (1st Maritimes)
Home Record	- - -	16-3-0-1
Road Record	7-13-0-0	- - -
Streak	1-0-1-0	0-2-0-1
Last 10	2-7-1-0	4-5-0-1
Goals For	113	177
Goals Against	135	128
Overall PP	27.4% (1st)	22% (9th)
Home PP	- - -	25.3% (6th)
Road PP	18.9% (12th)	- - -
Overall PK	84.3% (2nd)	767.2% (9th)
Home PK	- - -	85% (4th)
Road PK	82.8% (3rd)	- - -
PIM/GAME	14.2 (15th)	15.9 (8th)

LAST GAMES

The Sea Dogs are Wildcats played each other on Saturday in Moncton. The ‘Cats came out on top by score of 5-2. Zack Phillips and Kevin Gagne scored for Saint John while Moncton had a pair of goals from Allain Saulnier and singles from Patrick Delisle-Houde, Ryan Penny and Marek Hrivik. Roman Will made 32 saves in the win while Mathieu Corbeil allowed five goals on 28 shots in the loss.

Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant spoke to the Times& Transcript about the game.

"We were making bad pinches and giving up two-on-one rushes against," he said. "We don't usually play like that. We gave them too many Grade A scoring chances and it was their best players that we gave the good scoring chances to. They were better on special teams and we made some bad mental mistakes. That was the difference in the game. 

"I think we played hard for two periods. In the second period, Moncton won virtually every battle. They won nine out of every 10 individual battles for the puck. Both teams played Friday night, but I thought we looked more tired than them at times in this game."

HEAD-TO-HEAD

Saint John is now 2-2-0-0 against Moncton this year. The Wildcats are 2-1-1-0 against the Sea Dogs.

LEADING SCORERS

Zack Phillips leads Saint John in scoring with 55 points (20G, 35A) in 35 games. Danick Gauthier leads the Sea Dogs in goals with 32 while Phillips has a team high 35 helpers.

The Wildcats are led by Alex Saulnier who has 48 points (19G, 29A) in 34 games. Alex leads the team in goals with 19 and assists with 29.

PROBABLE GOALTENDERS

Mathieu Corbeil (22-8-0-0, 2.52 GAA, 0.906 SV%) for Saint John and Roman Will (18-15-3-0, 2.83 GAA, 0.904 SV%) for Moncton.

M.I.A. FOR SAINT JOHN

Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Charlie Coyle and Tomas Jurco along with defenseman Nathan Beaulieu are all away at the World Junior Hockey Championships in Alberta. Forward Oliver Cooper is away with Team Atlantic at the World Under-17 Challenge in Windsor.

Forwards Stanislav Galiev (wrist), Ryan Tesink (knee), and Devon Oliver-Dares (head) have all been out with injuries.

GAGNE

It’s been a good few weeks for defenseman Kevin Gagne. He has scored four goals and added three assists in his last seven games. He has seven goals and 14 assists in total this season.

NOTES

• Saint John is averaging 4,044 fans per game this season at Harbour Station.
• Danick Gauthier is second in the league in goals with 32.
• Zack Phillips is fifth in the league in assists with 35.
• Alex Saulnier is eighth in power play goals with nine.
• Alex Saulnier is third in power play assists with 20.
• Gauthier is second in game-winning goals with six.
• Alex Saulnier is sixth in first goals with five.
• Ian Saab is the league leader in penalty minutes with 109.
• Mathieu Corbeil has the league’s second best goals against average at 2.52. He leads the league in wins with 22.
• This is the first QMJHL game of 2012.

OTHER GAMES

This is the lone game across the league today.

NEXT GAME

The Sea Dogs host the Gatineau Olympiques on Wednesday at 7pm at Harbour Station.