RECAP: Saab Wants Noise. Dogs Win 10-2.

FINAL: Baie-Comeau 2, Saint John 10

SAINT JOHN – The Baie-Comeau Drakkar find themselves in a big hole as their quarter-final playoff series shifts to Quebec.

Not only have the Drakkar lost both games, but they have been outscored 19-5 in those two games. The latest loss came on Saturday night at Harbour Station as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the visitors 10-2 to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Unlike in Game 1 when Baie-Comeau stuck around until the halfway point, the Sea Dogs basically owned this game from start to finish. There was a point in the first period when the Drakkar were outshooting the Dogs but that didn’t last long.

Zack Phillips, Tomas Jurco, and Stanislav Galiev all had two goals each while singles came from Jonathan Huberdeau, Danick Gauthier, Kevin Gagne, and Charles Roussel. Charlie Coyle had four assists while Phillips and Roussel each had two.

Mathieu Corbeil made 24 saves for his sixth win of the post-season.

Saint John has now scored 53 goals in six playoff games for an average of 8.83 per game. Wow.

The Sea Dogs led just 2-0 after one but exploded again in the second period, scoring five times. They would add three more in the third to take it 10-2.

One of the most impressive parts of tonight’s game was the Sea Dogs’ physical play. They are not backing down from the Drakkar at all. It seems Baie-Comeau’s game plan is to try and knock the Dogs off their skilled game with physicality, but it was Saint John who seemed to be delivering more of the hits and checks on this night.

The game was highlighted by two quick fights in the second period. Grant West dropped Samuel Noreau with a couple of punches at 12:42. Then three seconds later, Ian Saab knocked Gabriel Verpaelst to the ice with a big shot to the head. Saab then fired up an already pumped Harbour Station crowd by waving his arms in the air, asking for more noise. He got a 10-minute misconduct for his actions but it was still very awesome.

The Sea Dogs’ power play also clicked in a big way, going 5-for-7 on the night. The Drakkar went 1-for-9.

Baie-Comeau’s only goals came from Jonathan Lessard and David Rose. Philippe Cadorette was pulled again after allowing six goals on 18 shots. Jimmy Appleby wasn’t a whole lot better as he allowed four goals on 15 shots.

Despite the lopsided score, shots were only 33-26 in favour of Saint John.

The Drakkar have a whole lot of work to do if they want to comeback in this series. The series now shifts to Baie-Comeau for Games 3, 4 and, if needed, 5.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: Game 3 of the series is Tuesday night at 8:30pm at the Henry Leonard Centre.