RECAP: Tamed By Tigres. Dogs Lose 6-4.

FINAL: Saint John 4, Victoriaville 6

The Saint John Sea Dogs got into a hole early but came back to make a game of it in a 6-4 loss to the Victoriaville Tigres on Saturday at Colisee Desjardins.

The Tigres dominated the first period and led 3-0. But Saint John climbed back and trailed 4-3 heading into the third period. Despite tying the game early in the third, William Cochrane scored what would prove to be the game winner less than two minutes later. They added an empty net marker to win 6-4.

Cochrane and Philippe Halley each had two goals while Petr Sidlik and Angelo Miceli added singles. Philippe Maillet added three assists. Brandon Whitney made 24 saves in net.

Jakub Izacky had quite a game for Saint John, registering two goals and two assists. Maxime Villemaire also scored twice while Stephen Anderson had two assists. Alex Fournier, who is still looking for his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League win, made 35 saves in the loss.

Although they struggled in the first, it was an overall better performance by Saint John than on Friday in their 9-1 loss to Rimouski.

The Sea Dogs’ three-in-three road trip ends tomorrow in Sherbrooke.

FIRST PERIOD

Jason Cameron headed to the box at 1:20, sending the Tigres to the power play. Angelo Miceli fired a shot past Sea Dogs goaltender Alex Fournier at 2:18 to give the home side an early 1-0 advantage.

Ian Saab went to the box for cross checking at 3:44 to send the Tigres back to the power play. Victoriaville had some good pressure on but could not score.

With some interference going on in front of the net, the puck came out to the slot. Petr Sidlik fired the disc into the cage at 5:45 to give the Tigres a 2-0 lead.

Victoriaville made it 3-0 at 6:41. William Cochrane scored the goal.

A few minutes later, Phillipe Halley fired a shot past Fournier but it hit the post.

Victoriaville had a few other good scoring chances in the first but we covered our eyes when they were taking place.

Shots were 16-4 Tigres in the first.

SECOND PERIOD

Carl-Antoine Delisle had a great chance early on the period but missed the net.

Spencer Smallman flipped the puck out of play at 1:34, sending the Tigres to the power play again. The man advantage ended when Mark Trickett was called for slashing at 2:48. The Dogs headed to the power play at 3:23 and had a lengthy five-on-three man advantage. During the two-man advantage, Maxime Villemaire was in front and scored at 4:15 to make it a 3-1 game.

Sawyer Hannay headed to the box at 5:24, sending Saint John back to the power play. Saab hit the post during the man advantage. Saint John had some pressure on but struggled to create good scoring chances.

Saint John headed back to the man advantage at 8:42 as Smallman was hit from behind. The Dogs couldn’t get much going during the power play.

Just a few seconds after Villemaire missed a great scoring chance, Jakub Izacky was parked at the bottom of the circle and ripped a shot past Whitney at 12:30. That made it a 3-2 contest.

Anderson headed off for four minutes at 14:52 after he high sticked a Victoriaville player in the face. Despite some good penalty kill work by Saint John, Halley got the Tigres back up by two at 18:02 on the man advantage.

At 19:48, Villemaire fired a shot from inside the line that seemed to fool Whitney a bit. The 20-year old’s second of the period made it a 4-3 game heading into intermission.

Shots were 14-12 in favour of the Tigres in the middle stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

The first few minutes of the third were uneventful.

Pierre Durepos fired a point shot that hit a Tigres player in the slot. Izacky grabbed the puck and beat Whitney to tie things up at 4-4 at 6:52.

Cochrane scored his second of the game at 8:42 to put the Tigres back in front. That made it 5-4.

The third period didn’t see many great scoring chances for either team.

Saint John pulled Fournier with just over a minute left in favour of the extra attacker. But Halley scored an empty net goal at 19:27 to make it a 6-4 final.

Shots were 12-11 Saint John in the third.

The Sea Dogs went 1-for-4 on the power play while the Tigres went 2-for-5.

NOTES: See Sea Dogs Postscript tomorrow on SN.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Phoenix in Sherbrooke tomorrow at 5pm.