RECAP: Dark Days. Dogs Lose 8-4.

FINAL: Saint John 4, Gatineau 8

GATINEAU, Que. – It was more of the same from the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday night.

The Gatineau Olympiques scored just 1:15 into the game and carried that momentum through the rest of the contest as they defeated the Sea Dogs 8-4 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action.

Saint John has now lost six straight including all three games of this Quebec three-in-three road trip. They sit 17^th overall in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with a 6-17-0-2 record and are eight points back of the final playoff spot.

It was more of the same issues for the Sea Dogs. They got behind early, dug themselves into a hole, and could not get much of anything going offensively. Saint John fired 23 shots on goal with the league website considering just five of them to be “dangerous.”

Mackenzie Brown, Matthew Highmore, Michael Abbott, and Stephen Anderson all scored for the Dogs. With Sebastien Auger taking part in the Subway Super Series next week, Antoine Landry got the start and allowed eight goals on 36 shots.

Gatineau had two goals each from Simon Tardif-Richard, Marc-Olivier Brouillard, and Martin Reway. Singles came from Emile Poirier and Alex Dostie. Robert Steeves made 19 saves in the win.

FIRST PERIOD

Gatineau scored just 1:15 in as Marc-Olivier Brouillard beat Antoine Landry to make it 1-0 for the home team.

It was pretty much all Gatineau in the opening few minutes of the period. Mickael Beauregard fired a shot that was stopped by Landry and the rebound created a bit of a scramble.

Later on, Stephen Anderson fired a shot from a point that was that awkward distance between the glove and pad of Robert Steeves, forcing the netminder to make a nice stop.

Kelly Bent went to the box for a questionable interference penalty at 10:05 to send Gatineau to the power play. At 10:40, Simon Tardif-Richard tipped the puck past Landry to make it 2-0 Olympiques.

The Dogs went to the man advantage 10:45 but couldn’t get anything going.

Spencer Smallman hit Marc-Olivier Crevier-Morin from behind at 15:02, sending the ‘Piques back to the power play. At 15:37, Alex Dostie finished off a nice passing play to make it 3-0 Gatineau. Yikes.

Shots in the first were 13-6 in favour of Gatineau.

SECOND PERIOD

The first seven minutes of the second period were about as eventful as the past few seasons of The Amazing Race. Really disappointing stuff, Phil.

Mackenzie Brown made the period eventful with an odd goal at 7:33. Brown dumped the puck in, it hit a partition, bounced towards the net and caught Steeves out of position to make it a 3-1 game.

Just when it looked like things may start to go Saint John’s way, Tardif-Richard scored his second of the night at 11:04 to make it a 4-1 contest.

Saint John went to the power play at 12:27 when Nicolas Latulippe hit Noah Zilbert from behind. The Olympiques had a shorthanded two-on-one but was broken up by Michael Abbott. In the dying seconds of the man advantage, Brown went in alone but missed the net.

Gatineau went back to the power play at 14:42. The ‘Piques had some good pressure on but could not add to their lead.

Shots were 10-4 Gatineau in the second stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

Just 31 seconds into the third, Martin Reway fired home a rebound to give Gatineau a 5-1 lead.

34 seconds later, Brouillard scored his second of the game to make it 6-1 and welcome us all to blowout city. Saint John called a timeout after the goal.

Derek Sheppard was given an instigator penalty at 3:18 after he jumped Alexander McQuaid.

At 6:56, Nicolas Latulippe headed to the sin bin for high sticking. Then at 8:50, Jason Cameron and Reway headed to the box for roughing with Reway getting the extra penalty. Just as the five-on-three ended, Michael Abbott fired a point shot that got by Steeves to make it a 6-2 match.

On another power play at 11:00, an Abbott shot was stopped but Matthew Highmore put in the rebound to make it a 6-3 game.

But just 12 seconds later, Emile Poirier sent a long shot through a screen that got past Landry to make it 7-3.

At 12:47, Cameron and Elie Berube dropped the gloves.

Oliver Cooper went to the box for tripping at 13:58. The Olympiques would connect on the power play as Reway netted his second at 14:54.

Stephen Anderson would round out the scoring summary, beating Steeves up high at 18:36 to make it a 8-4 final.

Shots in the third were 13-13.

Saint John went 2-for-5 on the power play while Gatineau went 3-for-4.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles on Friday night at Harbour Station.