SYDNEY, NS – William Carrier recorded four assists as the
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-2 on Friday
night at Centre 200 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.
Carrier helped setup Cape Breton’s first four goals of
the game while the fifth was an empty netter by Alexandre Lavoie. Kyle Farrell
and Lavoie each had two goals while Jakub Culek added a solo marker.
David Honzik got the start in net for the Eagles but was
pulled after allowing two goals on five shots in the first period. Philippe
Trudeau had a solid relief performance, making 17 saves.
It wasn’t the greatest night offensively for Saint John
as veteran forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Stephen MacAulay, and Ryan Tesink were
all held pointless. Marcus Cuomo and Noah Zilbert scored for the Sea Dogs.
Sebastien Auger made 28 stops in the loss.
The Eagles opened the scoring in what was a wild first
period. Four goals were scored between the 5:03 and 7:25 marks. The Dogs
entered the second period in a 2-2 tie but would never score again.
The loss, Saint John’s third straight, drops them to
10-12-0-0 on the season.
Saint John headed to the power play at 2:44 after Marcus
Cuomo was hit by Billy Hartley. The Dogs didn’t get a whole lot going on the
man advantage.
Alexandre Lavoie capitalized on a Saint John turnover at
5:03. He backhanded the puck past Sea Dogs goaltender Sebastien Auger to make
it a 1-0 Cape Breton lead.
Not long after at 6:19, Cuomo, who was injured just a few
minutes before, backhanded the puck past Eagles ‘tender David Honzik to tie
things up at 1-1.
The scoring fest continued at 7:03 as Jakub Culek got the
Eagles back in front, making it a 2-1 game.
The goals did not stop there. Noah Zilbert netted his
first career goal at 7:25 to make it a 2-2 contest. That would be the end of
Honzik’s night as Philippe Trudeau took over the net. Honzik allowed two goals
on five shots.
William Carrier had a great chance moments later but Auger made a
nice toe save. Some rough stuff at 9:49 resulted in a couple of minor penalties.
Soon after, Jonathan Huberdeau and Ryan Tesink had a
two-on-one. Huberdeau fed Tesink but he couldn’t burry it.
Saint John went back to the power play at 13:53 as
Jonathan Oligny headed off. The Dogs had a few more chances this time around
but nothing spectacular.
Lavoie had a great chance late in the period but sent it
wide of the goal. Kevin Gagne also had a solid scoring opportunity in the final
seconds but could not connect.
Shots in the first were 10-9 in favour of Saint John.
SECOND PERIOD
Cape Breton headed to their first power play of the night
at 2:15. Stephen MacAulay had a great shorthanded chance but the puck went wide
of the net. That was the most eventful thing to happen during the two-minute
frame.
Around the halfway mark of the period, Auger made a
couple of quick pad saves to keep the match tied. Then Cuomo made a lovely toe
drag to get by a defenseman as he crossed the blue line and fired a hard shot
on net that was stopped by Trudeau.
The Eagles headed back to the man advantage at 14:44 as
Andreas Tsogkas headed off. Kyle Farrell got past the Saint John defense and
deked out Auger at 16:03 to give Cape Breton a 3-2 advantage.
Some rough stuff at the 19-minute mark saw Cole Murphy
and Olivier LeBlanc both sent to the box.
Shots in the second period were 12-8 Cape Breton.
THIRD PERIOD
Cape Breton went back to the power play at 4:46 as Ryan
Tesink headed to the sin bin for roughing. Auger made a big time save on Brett
Malone who was parked at the top of the crease to keep the Dogs within one.
Farrell then had a partial break but Steven Duda managed
to get over in time, forcing the Eagles forward to throw a shot on net that was
stopped by Auger.
Soon after, Tesink had a chance on a three-on-one but
fired wide.
At 11:33, Devin Oliver-Dares was robbed by Trudeau in
front. Some rough stuff then broke out with Oliver-Dares and Jonathan Oligny
heading off for roughing. During the four-on-four, the puck snuck past Auger
but David Weckworth made a nice play to keep it out.
The Eagles made it a 4-2 contest at 12:46 as Farrell
scored his second of the contest. Carrier picked up his fourth assist of the
game on the goal.
The Dogs went to the power play at 13:48. That ended when
Zilbert went to the box at 15:40.
Saint John called a time out with 1:17 left in the third
and Auger stayed on the bench. But the Dogs could not tie it, and at 19:59, Lavoie iced the game with an empty net marker to make it a 5-2 final.
Shots in the third were 12-4 Cape Breton.
Saint John went 0-for-2 on the power play while Cape
Breton went 1-for-4.
NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs battle the Titan in Bathurst on
Sunday afternoon at the KC Irving Regional Centre.
Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
Okay, I’m going to put it out there; the Sea Dogs are painful to watch right now. This isn’t even for obvious reasons such as being spoiled for the last three years with incredible talent and to some of the best hockey in Canada.
ReplyDeleteLet’s face it, this year’s squad does not have the offensive talent or skill of the previous teams, and they are much younger than we’re used to seeing out there. Nobody should be-grudge them for this. My issues with the team are quite simply that they have stopped doing what they need to do to be as successful as they can be.
What made the team fun to watch at the beginning of the season was the fact that they worked their tails off and played an extremely tight defensive game where few if any errors were made by the entire team. Because of this, Sebastian Auger played some of the best hockey in Q history. Since then, however they have simply stopped emphasizing their defensive game and the end result is quite disastrous.
They seem to be fine for the first twenty minutes, and then the wheels most certainly fall off either in the second or third period. They need a complete effort and I haven’t seen this is numerous games.
We may have to fight another day when we’re facing teams that are in the top 9 in the Q, however we should be winning most of our games with the bottom 9, and unfortunately that isn’t happening so far.
Mike Kelly needs to find a way to get them back on track or it’s going to be a long painful season for their fans and the organization as a whole.