News & Notes From Thursday's Game

Oh, what a surprise. Lukas Walter and Kyle Haas dropped the gloves early in the first period of last night’s game. Video via HockeyFights.com.

Including pre-season, Walter and Haas have now fought each other four times this year.

Some other stuff from last night’s game…

• Moncton clearly had lots of energy when they stepped out of the room and onto the ice. The Wildcats scored within the first two minutes of each period last night, including Conor Garland’s goal which came 54 seconds into the game to open the scoring.
• Garland had quite night, scoring once and setting up four more.
• Ryan Penny scored a hat trick in this game. He had three goals all season entering the contest.
• A positive for Saint John: Noah Zilbert snapped his scoreless streak with a third period goal. It was just his second of the season and first since opening night (September 13^th). In an interview that aired on News 88.9, Zilbert said that these were frustrating times for him.
• Another positive for Saint John: defenseman Jeremy Doucet scored his first QMJHL goal in the third. Doucet, acquired from Bathurst last season, was playing in his 59^th Q game.
• With a goal and an assist last night, Matthew Highmore has two goals and two assists in his last three games.
• Antoine Landry made his fourth start of the season and gave up eight goals on 39 shots. It certainly wasn’t his greatest performance of the year but Saint John’s defense didn’t have their greatest performance either. This was Landry’s first start since October 6^th. All four of his starts have been on the road – two in Moncton and two in Bathurst.
• Mackenzie Brown returned to the Sea Dogs lineup. He hadn’t played since October 26^th due to an upper body injury. Brown had five shots and was a -3 last night.
• Stephen Anderson can’t catch a break these days. He had a couple of good chances in this game but was denied by Alex Dubeau. He hasn’t scored since October 4^th.
• Sea Dogs scratches were forwards Spencer Smallman (upper body) and Samuel Dove-McFalls (upper body) along with defensemen Michael Abbott (upper body) and Will Thompson (upper body). In a pre-game interview that aired on News 88.9, Sea Dogs head coach Ross Yates said Smallman could return as early as Saturday while the team is hoping Abbott can return for the Quebec road trip next week.
• Moncton now leads the all-important Rivalry Cup standings 3-1. Oh man.
• The Sea Dogs have lost five straight road games. They play their next four on the road, including a three-in-three in Quebec next week.

NOTES: Antoine Landry was also sporting a new mask… Oliver Cooper had four hits… Mackenzie Brown, Noah Zilbert, Kelly Bent, and Stephen Anderson all had five shots… if you’re into +/- stats, Jurij Repe was a -4 last night… according to the Q site, Matthew Highmore went 2/23 on faceoffs last night… Christophe Lalonde had three hits for Moncton… Ryan Penny had seven shots... this was the most goals the Sea Dogs have allowed in a game this season.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are in Halifax tomorrow night.