PLAYOFF GAMEDAY 9: Round 3, Game 1 - vs Sagueneens

GAMEDAY

Round 3, Game 1

Chicoutimi Sagueneens vs Saint John Sea Dogs

Tonight at 7:30pm

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

SERIES STATUS

This is the first game of the best-of-seven semifinal playoff series between Saint John and Chicoutimi.

PREVIEW

SAINT JOHN – The Saint John Sea Dogs are finally back in action tonight as the semifinals begin at 7:30pm at Harbour Station. Saint John hasn’t played since April 11 when they completed a series sweep of the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

While the Sea Dogs were resting and practicing, their opponent, the Chicoutimi Sagueneens, were battling and upsetting the Memorial Cup host Shawinigan Cataractes in a series that went the full seven games and ended on Tuesday night.

So tonight it will be the battle of the rested versus the tested. Like Gerard Gallant said in the paper earlier this week, Saint John has to bring their intensity level up to Chicoutimi’s level.

Despite lopsided scores, the Sea Dogs haven’t been great in either of their Game 1s in the playoffs so far. They struggled in the first period of their first round series against Cape Breton but will won 13-4. They struggled in the first half of their opening game of the second round but still defeated Baie-Comeau 9-3. So although the Dogs haven’t come flying out of the gate in either series, they've been able to make the proper adjustments to still win easily.

First periods have been Chicoutimi’s best offensive frame this post-season, having outscored opponents 19-14. Through two rounds, the Sags have only a +3 goal differential.

While Saint John has cruised through the first two rounds and have an 8-0 playoff record, Chiocutimi has had much more of a challenge. They needed six games to eliminate Bathurst in the first round and then needed seven to upset Shawinigan.

Chicoutimi and Saint John had an interesting regular season series. The Sea Dogs dominated the Sags in the first meeting, winning 6-0 on the night Saint John raised their championship banners. Then in December with the Dogs missing several regulars, the Sagueneens beat Saint John 8-3. The third game saw Chicoutimi win 4-3 in a shootout at the Georges Vezina Centre.

The Sagueneens will be a tough test for Saint John. That test begins tonight.

PLAYOFF NUMBERS

	Saint John	Chicoutimi
Record	8-0-0-0	8-5-0-0
Home Record	4-0-0-0	4-2-0-0
Road Record	4-0-0-0	4-3-0-0
Goals For/Game	7.88 (1st)	3.24 (9th)
Goals Against/Game	2.25 (1st)	3.02 (6th)
Shots For/Game	39.25 (1st)	26.85 (11th)
Shots Against/Game	25.13 (1st)	31.26 (9th)
Overall PP	32.6% (1st)	20.8% (11th)
Home PP	46.2% (1st)	15.4% (12th)
Road PP	15% (11th)	25.9% (4th)
Overall PK	86.5% (1st)	83.9% (3rd)
Home PK	77.8% (9th)	96.2% (2nd)
Road PK	94.7% (1st)	73.3% (9th)
PIM/GAME	18.9 (5th)	17.5 (8th)
Attendance	4,861 (3rd)	3,753 (7th)

LEADING SCORERS – PLAYOFFS

Chicoutimi

Player	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Guillaume Asselin	13	6	10	16
Christian Ouellet	13	12	2	14
Steve Lebel	13	3	7	10

Saint John

Player	GP	Goals	Assists	Points
Zack Phillips	8	6	17	23
Charlie Coyle	8	11	10	21
Stanislav Galiev	8	7	12	19

GOALTENDERS - PLAYOFFS
Chicoutimi

Goaltender	Record	GAA	SV%
Christopher Gibson	8-3-2-0	2.88	0.908
Francois Desrosiers	0-0-0-0	5.20	0.846

Saint John

Goaltender	Record	GAA	SV%
Mathieu Corbeil	8-0-0-0	2.25	0.910
Sebastien Auger	0-0-0-0	- - -	- - -

PLAYOFF SERIES

GAME ONE – Friday, April 20: 7:30 p.m. @ Harbour Station

GAME TWO – Sunday, April 22: 3 p.m. @ Harbour Station

GAME THREE – Tuesday, April 24: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Georges-Vezina

GAME FOUR – Thursday, April 26: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Georges-Vezina

*GAME FIVE – Saturday, April 28: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station

*GAME SIX – Monday, April 30: 8:30 p.m. @ Centre Georges-Vezina

*GAME SEVEN – Tuesday, May 1: 7 p.m. @ Harbour Station

*If Necessary

SEASON SERIES

October 29 – Chicoutimi 0, Saint John 6

December 4 – Chicoutimi 8, Saint John 3

March 9 – Saint John 3, Chicoutimi 4 (SO)

NOTES

• Christian Ouellet leads the league in playoff goals with 12.
• Zack Phillips leads the league in assists with 17.
• Charlie Coyle has three game winning goals.
• Ouellet has three first goals.
• Alexandre Beauregard is second in penalty minutes with 29.
• Coyle, Phillips and Stanislav Galiev are all a +18.
• Steve Lebel has two shorthanded assists.
• Christopher Gibson has had to make the most saves of any goaltender in the post-season so far with 373. He has a save percentage of 0.908 and a GAA of 2.88.

OTHER GAME

Rimouski at Halifax - 7:00 PM ADT

NEXT GAME

Game 2 of this series is Sunday afternoon at 3pm at Harbour Station.