POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 5, Oil Kings 2

A collection of recaps from last night’s 5-2 Saint John Sea Dogs victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings…

Our recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs are very much alive at the 2012 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

News 88.9’s recap. Featuring Tim Roszell’s goal calls.

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Zack Phillips opened the scoring and added a late third-period marker as the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Sea Dogs evened their record at 1-1.

The Edmonton Journal’s recap. "We just couldn't get'er done tonight," Lazar told reporters. "There are a couple of guys on the team that need to pick up the effort and I'm calling myself out on that one because I need to play better."

Sportsnet.ca’s recap. "I guess the only positive about tonight, it didn’t go into overtime so we can get back to the hotel, we can rest, relax and try to reenergize for tomorrow night," Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal said.

Buzzing The Net’s recap. "The first period, I would say, was about a five out of 10," said Sea Dogs centre Stephen MacAulay, whose work on the nominal third line with birthday-boy goal scorer Ryan Tesink and Maxime Villemaire helped wear down Edmonton. "The second period we started to play well. That was about an eight. The third period was a nine. It wasn't as good as we can go, but we'll take it."

The Canadian Press’ recap. It is the first time all four teams have been tied with 1-1 records since the current format was adopted in 1983.

SN Live Blog replay. That’s more like it.

MISSING IN ACTION: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Grant West, Jason Cameron, Dylan McGuigan, and defensemen Spencer MacDonald and Jordan Moore and goaltender Richard Tingley. Cameron and MacDonald both played on Saturday but were replaced by forwards Devon Oliver-Dares and Oliver Cooper.

1-1: The win evened Saint John’s record to 1-1 at the Memorial Cup. Every team is 1-1 entering the final two games of round-robin action. It’s the first that has happened under the current tournament format.

If Edmonton wins tonight and Saint John wins on Wednesday, the Sea Dogs go directly to the final. No matter what happens tonight, a win on Wednesday is vital. A Sea Dogs win would guarantee Saint John at least a position in the tournament semi-finals, while a loss would put them in Thursday’s tie-breaker.

PHILLIPS: Zack Phillips had a big game, scoring two goals, recording five shots, and had a +2 rating. Both of his goals were big ones. His first was the opening goal of the game and his second was an insurance marker in the third that made it 4-2 with 1:37 left.

Phillip left the game briefly during the middle part of the second period. It appeared to be some kind of leg injury as he limped down the tunnel to the dressing room.

HUBERDEAU: Jonathan Huberdeau scored his second goal of the tournament, connecting on a breakaway in the second period. He also added an assist and was a +3.

According to @WHLFacts, Huberdeau has now scored in five of the six Memorial Cup games he has played in including each of the past three.

WHL: This was Saint John’s first win against a Western Hockey League team after losing in overtime to Kootenay last year. According to @WHLFacts, the Sea Dogs broke a streak of eight straight WHL wins over the QMJHL at the Memorial Cup.

TOP SIX: After a slow start to the tournament, Saint John’s top six came alive on Monday night.

Jonathan Huberdeau: one goal, one assist, three shots, +3

Danick Gauthier: one goal, one shot, +2

Charlie Coyle: two assists, one shot, +2

Zack Phillips: two goals, five shots, +2

Tomas Jurco: one assist, five shots, +1

Stanislav Galiev: seven shots, +2

SPECIAL TEAMS: Saint John’s power play hasn’t been great so far at the Memorial Cup. They went 0/4 on Monday and 1/5 on Saturday. On the other hand, their penalty kill has been good. They’ve allowed just two goals on 14 opportunities.

CORBEIL: Mathieu Corbeil finally got his first career Memorial Cup win in his third try. He made 25 saves for the win. Sportsnet’s John Garrett was quite critical of Corbeil all game long. No goaltender at this year’s tournament has really stood out.

NOTES: Stanislav Galiev had a team high seven shots… Danick Gauthier had six hits… Kristians Pelss had an Edmonton high four shots… Griffin Reinhart and Travis Ewanyk both had three hits… Saint John outhit Edmonton 24-13… Henrik Samuelsson had two assists… Nathan Beaulieu took four minutes in penalties including an unnecessary slashing penalty late in the second.

HIGHLIGHTS: Via Sportsnet.

Open Ice Hockey’s recap.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs battle the Shawinigan Cataractes tomorrow night at 8pm.