RECAP: Rough Times. Dogs Lose 4-1.

FINAL: Shawinigan 4, Saint John 1

SAINT JOHN – If there is one positive to come out of this game, it’s that the power play really has nowhere to go but up.

The Saint John Sea Dogs’ power play went 0-for-6 on Thursday night at Harbour Station as the Memorial Cup champions fell 4-1 to the Memorial Cup hosting Shawinigan Cataractes. It was Shawinigan’s final visit to Saint John this regular season.

Saint John’s lineup, featuring three National Hockey League first-round drafted forwards, really couldn’t get anything going on their six power play opportunities. Shawinigan’s defense, headlined by Brandon Gormley and Morgan Ellis, shut things down. Gabriel Girard was solid in net.

Shawinigan’s defense was good. Their goaltending was good. And their offense took advantage of their opportunities. Saint John’s defense wasn’t great. Mathieu Corbeil was average. And their offense had chances but just couldn’t connect.

This game had a lot of hype heading into it. There was supposed to be a big crowd, but that didn’t happen because of weather. This was supposed to a playoff like game but, frankly, it was kind of boring at times. It definitely won’t be remembered as a classic game.

Peter Sakaris had two goals for the Cataractes while Michael Chaput and Michael Bournival had the others. Bournival and Anton Zlobin each added two assists. Girard made 29 saves for the win in net.

Saint John’s lone goal came from Charlie Coyle who was making his QMJHL debut. Corbeil allowed four goals on 26 shots in the loss.

Shawinigan and Saint John are now tied for first-place in the QMJHL with 64 points. With two more head-to-head meetings to be played between these two before the playoffs, it’s going to be interesting to see how the remainder of the season plays out.

The game got off to a quick start as there were no whistles for several minutes. It was fast pace and entertaining opening period of hockey.

Shawinigan opened the scoring at 7:40. Chaput came hard down the wing and cut in front and past a frozen Corbeil. He put the puck into the yawning cage to make it 1-0 in favour of the visitors.

Saint John headed to the power play at 8:16. They had some decent pressure, and Huberdeau had a good chance, but they could not tie the match.

At 10:33, Huberdeau passed the puck in front to Coyle who beat Girard glove side to make it a 1-1 affair.

The Sea Dogs had a couple of other power plays following the Coyle goal but could not connect. Charles-Olivier Roussel headed to the box at 15:53, giving the Cataractes an abbreviated man advantage. Shawinigan had some pressure on but couldn’t tack on another.

Shots in the opening frame were 11-10 in favour of Saint John.

The first six minutes or so of the second saw some back-and-forth hockey with neither club generating any terrific chances.

At 6:31, some rough stuff in front of the Shawinigan bench resulted in some penalties. Huberdeau and Spencer MacDonald headed off for Saint John while Vincent Arseneau and Pierre-Olivier Morin went off for the Cataractes. There was definitely some hate on the ice.

Saint John went to the man advantage at 6:54. On the power play, it looked as Girard had covered the puck and the officials blew the play dead quickly. The puck was not covered though and was loose in the crease, allowing the Dogs to slide it in. But the whistle had gone and it did not count.

After Saint John failed to score on the power play, they headed back to the man advantage 13:56. The Dogs couldn’t get much going and the game remained tied.

Shawinigan took a 2-1 lead at 18:50. Anton Zlobin made a small pass to Sakaris who moved into the slot. Sakaris ripped the puck glove side and past Corbeil to make it 2-1 Cataractes.

The Cats had a good chance late in the period during a scrum in the crease but Corbeil was able to keep the disc out.

Shots were 8-4 Saint John in the middle frame.

Just 26 seconds into the third period, a Bournival point shot was stopped but Corbeil let out a huge rebound. Sakaris had a wide open net to give Shawinigan a 3-1 lead.

Later, Huberdeau fed Coyle in the slot but Girard made a nice chest save.

Saint John headed to the power play at 13:33. On the man advantage, Jurco had Saint John’s lone solid chance at the side of the goal. He had an open top-of-the-net but was unable to get the puck over Girard’s glove.

Bournival iced the game at 16:48 when he beat Corbeil on a breakaway to give Shawinigan a 4-1 lead.

Dylan McGuigan and Jonathan Narbonne dropped the gloves at 18:32, ending the game on a rough note.

Shots in the third were 12-11 in favour of the visitors.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs battle the Drummondville Voltigeurs on Saturday night at Harbour Station.