SAINT JOHN – Zack Phillips’ three-point night propelled the Saint John Sea Dogs to victory on Wednesday night at Harbour Station.
Phillips had a goal and setup two others in Saint John’s 3-2 win over the Gatineau Olympiques. Saint John’s offense had a good night despite missing several key contributors, outshooting Gatineau 38-28. Only three Sea Dogs didn’t have a shot on goal.
Maxime Villemaire, making his Sea Dogs debut, also scored for Saint John. Danick Gauthier added the other while Aidan Kelly had two assists. Mathieu Corbeil had a solid game, making 26 saves in the victory.
Ottawa Senators prospect Jean-Gabriel Pageau had both Gatineau goals. Mathieu Gagnon had two helpers. Francois Lacerte allowed three goals on 38 shots in the loss.
Saint John improved their record to 30-12-0-2 and have now won two straight. Six of Saint John’s last eight games have been decided by one-goal.
Halifax is up next. Trade deadline is Saturday. No clue what might happen.
On his first shift in a Sea Dogs jersey, Villemaire netted his first goal in a Sea Dogs jersey. Zack Phillips was behind the goal and sent the puck to Villemaire who was parked at the top of the crease. He beat Lacerte to give Saint John a 1-0 lead at 1:31.
Saint John headed to the power play at 7:50 and had some good pressure on but couldn’t extend their lead. They had another man advantage later on in the period but could not convert on that chance either.
At 11:48, Ian Saab and Adam Chapman squared off for a quick tilt.
Shots in the opening frame were 15-6 in favour of Saint John.
Grant West and Jacob Conrad dropped the gloves at 7:17 for a decent scrap.
The Sea Dogs doubled their lead at 8:16. Kelly fired a perfect cross ice pass to Phillips who let go a hard wrist shot that beat Lacerte to give Saint John a 2-0 lead.
The Olympiqies got on the board at 10:39 during some four-on-four action. Garrett Clarke fired the original shot that was stopped by Corbeil. Mathieu Gagnon then grabbed the rebound and made a deke on the Dogs goaltender but couldn’t score. Pageau finally netted the disc to make it a 2-1 contest.
Saint John then started to get into some penalty trouble as Villemaire headed off at 11:25 followed Corbeil taking a slashing penalty and then Gauthier was called for elbowing at 14:21. During some of the power play action, Chapman dove for a loose puck at the side of the crease but couldn’t connect. Corbeil made a big glove save near the end of the penalty kill.
Back at even strength, Brock Morrison was stopped on a break.
Chapman headed to the box at 18:46 for roughing. While shorthanded at 18:57, Christian Ouellet made a big deke to get around Corbeil. He then sent a perfect pass to a wide open Pageau who scored his second of the game into the empty cage.
But Saint John got their lead back at 19:26. Phillips sent a pass down low to Danick Gauthier who roofed the puck up and over Lacerte to make it 3-2 in favour of the Sea Dogs.
Shots were 15-13 in favour of the Dogs in the middle frame.
The third saw the two teams exchange scoring chances throughout. Shots were 10-7 in favour of Saint John.
In the final minute, the Olympiques pulled Lacerte but couldn’t get a whole lot going. The Sea Dogs hung on to win 3-2.
Gatineau went 0-for-4 on the power play while Saint John went 1-for-5.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Halifax to face the Mooseheads on Saturday at 7pm.
Photo Credit: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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