RECAP: Saturday Night's Alright. Sea Dogs Win 4-1.

FINAL: Sherbrooke 1, Saint John 4

SAINT JOHN – Three power play goals led the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 4-1 victory over the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Saturday night at Harbour Station.

Olivier LeBlanc, Mackenzie Brown, and Matthew Highmore all scored their first goals of the season while Nathan Noel scored his third in the victory. LeBlanc also had two assists. Sebastien Auger was Sebastien Auger and made 32 saves for the win.

Saint John opened the scoring in the first period but Sherbrooke quickly tied it. The Sea Dogs jumped out to a 3-1 advantage after two and then extended their lead to 4-1 in the third. Some good penalty killing and quality goaltending in the final frame allowed the Sea Dogs to hang on for the 4-1 win.

The win improves Saint John’s record to 3-2-0-1 on the season.

Tim Wieser had Sherbrooke’s only goal. Gabriel Parent made 20 saves in the loss.

FIRST PERIOD

Jeremy Doucet headed to the box at 1:05 to give the Phoenix an early power play opportunity. During the span, William Couture was robbed by a sliding Sebastien Auger in the Sea Dogs net.

The next few minutes were blah. Around the 11-minute mark, some sloppy defensive work in front of the Sherbrooke net by the Phoenix created a great chance for Matthew Highmore but he was unable to cash in.

Some four-on-four play took place after Highmore was called for high sticking and Axel Rioux for holding. Nothing happened.

The Sea Dogs headed to the power play at 13:00. Olivier LeBlanc would score with a shot from just below the Telus ad to give the Dogs a 1-0 lead at 14:20.

26 seconds later, Tim Wieser tied things up with his second goal of the season.

Soon after the goal, Daniel Audette had a great chance as he beat the Saint John defense and got Auger to go down but was unable to roof an accurate shot.

Shots in the first were 9-8 in favour of the visitors. The period really could have used a dozen or so more quality scoring chances.

SECOND PERIOD

Mackenzie Brown put the Sea Dogs back in front with his first goal of the season at 4:10. That made it 2-1 Saint John.

The Dogs headed to the power play at 5:32. At 6:11, Highmore fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that went through some traffic and past Parent to give Saint John a 3-1 advantage.

At 6:34, Audette headed to the box. During the power play, the Sea Dogs managed to shovel the puck in but the whistle had clearly gone and it was called no goal.

Doucet headed to the sin bin for the second time in this game at 10:23. The Phoenix were able to score on the man advantage but it was ruled that it was put in by a high stick.

The Sea Dogs had yet another power play at 13:48 but it would be Sherbrooke getting the best scoring chance. Vincent Deslauriers was awarded a penalty shot at 15:39 but could not score.

Then the fighting started. At 18:15 Oliver Cooper and Mathieu Laverdure dropped the gloves which was followed by Jason Cameron fighting Dominic Talbot-Tassi at 18:48.

Shots in the second were 10-9 Saint John.

THIRD PERIOD

Noel gave the Sea Dogs a 4-1 lead at 1:22 with a power play goal.

Rest of the period: Sherbrooke had some power plays but couldn’t score, Auger made some big time saves, and Connor Donaghey came to the defense of Nathan Noel and dropped the gloves.

Shots were 14-7 Sherbrooke in the third and 33-24 Phoenix overall.

Saint John went 3-for-6 on the power play while Sherbrooke went 0-for-5.

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Joey Richard, Kelly Bent, Juraj Siska (injured/not here) along with defensemen Alexander McQuaid and Jurij Repe (wrist).

NOTES: Michael Abbott returned to the Sea Dogs lineup… Saint John led after two periods for the first time this season… Saint John still hasn’t out shot an opponent this season… Highmore had six shots… LeBlanc had three hits.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads on Tuesday night at Harbour Station.