RECAP: What An Intro. Sea Dogs Win 2-1.

FINAL: Bathurst 1, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN – The Acadie-Bathurst Titan picked a bad time to allow their first power play goal against this season.

At 9:45 of the third period on a man advantage, Stephen Anderson broke a 1-1 tie with his second goal of the season. The goal proved to be the game winner in the Saint John Sea Dogs’ 2-1 home opener victory over the Titan on Saturday night at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs improved to 2-1 while the Titan fell to the same record.

Spencer Smallman also scored for Saint John in the win. Oliver Cooper had two assists. Goaltender Sebastien Auger was terrific as usual, making 44 saves in his first start of the season.

Dominic Beauchemin scored Bathurst’s only goal. Mason McDonald made 32 saves in the loss.

It was an entertaining way to kick off Saint John's 2013-14 home schedule. This could be a very entertaining season if there are lots of games played like this one.

The Titan opened the scoring at 11:35 of the first as Beauchemin scored some goal.

Saint John would tie things up at 17:52. Oliver Cooper fired a pass from along the side boards to an open Smallman. The second year Sea Dog fired a quick shot over McDonald to tie things up at 1-1.

Shots were 14-14 in a good first period.

The second period was another closely played one. The rough stuff picked up at 4:46 in front of the Sea Dogs net. That resulted in several penalties and several moments of confusion.

At 6:55, Alexander McQuaid and Vytal Cote dropped the gloves. McQuaid also had a fight against the Titan in the pre-season.

Despite plenty of chances, neither team could score in the frame. Shots were 13-12 in favour of the Titan.

On a power play at 9:45, the Sea Dogs would finally break through the Titan penalty kill. Anderson was at the top of the crease and put the puck in to give the Sea Dogs a 2-1 advantage.

Jeremy Doucet took an untimely tripping penalty at 16:47 to send Bathurst to the power play. Despite some wild times in the Sea Dogs crease area the Titan would not beat Auger. With 13.8 seconds left a play went under a lengthy review but no goal was the call. Saint John would survive the final seconds and hang on for the win.

Bathurst outshot Saint John 18-8 in the third and 45-34 overall.

The Sea Dogs went 1-for-7 on the power play while the Titan went 0-for-5.

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Samuel Dove-McFalls (healthy), Connor Donaghey (healthy), and Juraj Siska (not here yet) as well as defensemen Thomas Chabot (death in family) and Jurij Repe (wrist).

NOTES: Tim Roszell returned to the play-by-play booth… Roszell also performed the player introductions from ice level… loudest cheer was for Sebastien Auger… the Titan jersey font is really small… couple t-shirts got stuck in the rafters thanks to the t-shirt cannon… a Titan player’s stick went flying into the stands in the third period. It was returned to the Titan bench… Joey Richard assisted on Smallman’s goal for his first career QMJHL point… Matthew Highmore had six shots… Cooper had four hits… these were handed out to fans entering the building and they are awesome.

Just what I needed....something to make me louder than I already am!!! Ahahahaha. Go @SeaDogsHockey pic.twitter.com/6EONoWb0DL
— Brad MacPhee (@Brad_MacPhee) September 21, 2013

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Charlottetown Islanders tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.