POSTSCRIPT: Sea Dogs 4, Wildcats 3 (OT)

A collection of recaps from last night’s 4-3 Saint John Sea Dogs overtime win over the Moncton Wildcats…

Our recap. Many times over the past few seasons the Saint John Sea Dogs have won games in stunning fashion. Tonight was one of those nights.

The Telegraph-Journal’s recap (paywall). This has turned into an extremely one-sided rivalry.

The Times & Transcript’s recap (paywall). Did that really just happen?

The Canadian Press’ recap. Kevin Gagne scored 3:08 into overtime as the Saint John Sea Dogs came from behind to beat the host Moncton Wildcats 4-3 on Friday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

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

SaintJohnSeaDogs.com’s recap. The Saint John Sea Dogs visited the Moncton Wildcats and took a 4-3 win in comeback fashion in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action Friday night.

Moncton-Wildcats.com’s recap. The Saint John Seadogs comeback in overtime to edge the Moncton Wildcats 4-3 Friday night at the Coliseum.

SCRATCHES: Benjamin Hade (upper body), Jason Seed (MHL Summerside), Jonathan Huberdeau (Team Canada/suspension), Devon Oliver-Dares (personal reasons), Mackenzie Brown (knee), Michael Mastrangelo (upper body), Andreas Tsogkas (healthy,) and Jurij Repe (Slovenian junior team) did not play for Saint John.

According to News 88.9, Brown took warm up but did not play.

FIRST: The first period was dull. Despite shots being 11-7 in favour of Moncton, not a whole lot happened in terms of scoring chances. The ‘Cats scored to lead 1-0. Yawn.

SECOND: Things picked up in the second period. Moncton scored two goals in the first 35 seconds of the period to lead 3-0 early. But Saint John battled back in the period, scoring two power play goals and out shooting Moncton 15-9.

MacAULAY: Stephen MacAulay scored his 12^th power play goal of the season in the second period, giving him a career high 16 goals. He had scored 15 goals in each of the past two seasons. His 12 power play goals are good for second most in the league.

TIED: Jason Cameron was called for high sticking at 18:42 to send Moncton to the power play. Even with Sebastien Auger on the bench, it seemed unlikely the Dogs would tie it. But they did as Jakub Izacky beat Alex Dubeau with six seconds remaining. It was a rare shorthanded goal scored during five-on-five play.

IZACKY: Solid game for Izacky once again. The rookie import netted a pair of goals and registered a team high five shots. He now has nine goals and four assists in 28 games this season. Last night was the first time he has scored since November 25.

GAGNE: Kevin Gagne continued his great season by netting the overtime winner. The 20-year old defenseman now has 11 goals and 22 assists in 28 games this year. His 33 points place him second in scoring by defensemen. He also extended his point streak to 10 games. Gagne and Oliver Cooper are the only players in the league with multiple overtime goals this season.

DICKINSON: Forward Justin Dickinson, a 10^th round pick of the Sea Dogs in June, made his QMJHL debut last night. Despite what many expected going in, he didn’t drop the gloves with Kyle Haas. Dickinson had one hit in the game. He wore No. 29.

TESINK: Ryan Tesink had three assists last night, helping setup all three Saint John regulation time goals. The St. Louis Blues prospect now has 16 goals and 21 assists in 30 games.

VS MONCTON: According to the Times & Transcript, “Saint John has won 17 of the last 19 games between these clubs dating back to the start of the 2010-11 season.” The Dogs improved to an impressive 3-0-0-0 against the Wildcats this season.

STANDINGS: The win puts Saint John back to the .500 mark with a 16-16-0-0 record. Their 32 points place them fourth in the Telus Maritimes Division and 12^th overall in the QMJHL.

NOTES: Ross Yates ran the bench of Friday in Mike Kelly’s absence… there was a marriage proposal in the stands in the third period… couple of terrific calls by Tim Roszell last night. Both the tying goal and the overtime goal were great… the Sea Dogs scored their 100^th goal of the season last night… the Wildcats are just 6-6-1-0 against divisional opponents this year… Olivier LeBlanc and Pierre Durepos had three hits… Christophe Lalonde had seven shots… Yannick Veilleux and Lalonde had four hits.

OUT OF TOWN

P.E.I. 5 at Cape Breton 2

Acadie-Bathurst 3 at Halifax 4

Victoriaville 2 at Baie-Comeau 6

Sherbrooke 6 at Drummondville 3

Chicoutimi 1 at Rimouski 2

Gatineau 3 at Rouyn-Noranda 5

Quebec 4 at Shawinigan 5 (OT)

Blainville-Boisbriand 3 at Val-d'Or 5

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs battle the Rocket in PEI on Sunday afternoon.

Photo courtesy Marc Grandmaison