POSTSCRIPT: Wildcats 2, Sea Dogs 4

A collection of recaps from last night’s 4-2 Saint John Sea Dogs win over the Moncton Wildcats…

Our recap. 3,094 fans attended the anticipated game. Saint John versus Moncton games have always been popular with fans as each year sees the rivalry grow a little bit more. This year should prove no different.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap (paywall). Stephen MacAulay scored the decisive goal on the power play at 7:19 of the third period as the Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Moncton Wildcats 4-2 in front of 3,094 fans Wednesday night at Harbour Station in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

The Times & Transcript’s recap (paywall). Widely regarded as a championship contender, they dropped to 1-2-0-0 following another embarrassing performance in a 4-2 loss to the Saint John Sea Dogs in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action last night in front of 3,094 fans at Harbour Station.

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

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. Jonathan Huberdeau had two goals while Stephen MacAulay and Ryan Tesink each had a goal and an assist.

Live Blog replay.

MISSING IN ACTION: Forwards Noah Zilbert (healthy), Mackenzie Brown (knee), Spencer Smallman (shoulder), and Matthew Highmore (shoulder) along with defensemen Pierre Durepos (hip) and David Weckworth (knees) did not play for Saint John.

“First game of many tonight in the stands #nofun,” tweeted Brown before the game. Brown is expected to miss several weeks with a knee injury.

HUBERDEAU: Jonathan Huberdeau scored two power play goals in the first period to give the Dogs a 2-0 lead after one. The first was a lovely toe drag while the second was a shot that hit something on its way by and fooled the Moncton netminder.

Huberdeau finished the game with two goals, a -1 rating, and eight shots. However, he could not finish the game after taking a high hit from Patrick Downe 6:17 of the third. From News 88.9’s Sea Dogs blog:

Huberdeau pulled himself out of the game with around eight minutes left, moments after finishing a penalty killing shift, and was joined in the Sea Dog dressing room by a team doctor. 

There was no word on his condition following the game.

Sea Dogs head coach Mike Kelly spoke to the Telegraph-Journal about the incident after the game.

“He seems OK right now,’’ Kelly told the T-J. “It doesn’t seem to be a concern, but when that happens, it’s scary. Jo went down and then he tried (another) shift and he wasn’t seeing right, so he came right off. We’ll have to have a look at it and see how he responds.’’

Scary times. Huberdeau has three goals and two assists to lead the team in points this year.

HERO: Stephen MacAulay was the hero on this night, scoring the winner on a power play at 7:19 of the third. Ryan Tesink would add an insurance marker of the empty net goal variety with 23 seconds left to make it a 4-2 final. All three of Saint John’s games this season have been decided by two goals or less.

FIRST POINT: Jakub Izacky assisted on MacAulay’s game winning goal. It was his first career QMJHL point. He joins Olivier Leblanc as the only new players to record a point so far this season.

GAGNE: Kevin Gagne recorded two assists and was named first star. He’s off to a good start this year having recorded a goal and three assists in three games.

SPECIAL TEAMS: The big story of this game was Saint John’s power play. The Sea Dogs went 3-for-6 on the man advantage, a huge improvement over Friday’s 0-for-8 performance in Bathurst. The only goal the Dogs didn’t score on the power play was Ryan Tesink’s empty netter.

Moncton’s penalty kill is off to rough start this year. Their PK is running at 56.3% which is currently the second worst in the league. Danny Flynn’s Wildcats usually have some of the best special teams numbers in the league.

THE IMPORTS: Moncton’s big time import duo of Dmitri Jaskin and Ivan Barbashev had a quiet night. Jaskin had three shots and was a -1 while Barbashev recorded an assist, one shot, and a -1 rating. Barbashev also picked up a diving penalty.

SEE YOU LATER: Forward Stephen MacAulay and defenseman Kevin Gagne are now off to Hamilton Bulldogs training camp. They are expected to miss this weekend's games versus Gatineau and Moncton.

RIVALRY CUP: Saint John picked up three Rivalry Cup points with the regulation win. They failed to pick up any attendance points because of the small crowd of 3,094. Details on this year’s competition can be found here.

NOTES: This was the first game this season that the Sea Dogs scored first in… this was Saint John’s first home win of the campaign… Yannick Veilleux had five shots for Moncton… there were five tripping penalties called… the newly acquired John Chartrand was Moncton’s backup goaltender.

HIGHLIGHTS: Courtesy of SeaDogsTV.

OUT OF TOWN

Cape Breton 1 at Acadie-Bathurst 4

Rouyn-Noranda 9 at Sherbrooke 2

Victoriaville 3 at Chicoutimi 4

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs debut their new third jerseys on Saturday night at Harbour Station against the Gatineau Olympiques. 

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation