RECAP: Nine Straight. Dogs Lose 6-2.

FINAL: Moncton 6, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN – Ugh.

The Saint John Sea Dogs lost their ninth straight Quebec Major Junior Hockey League game on Friday night at Harbour Station, falling 6-2 to the Moncton Wildcats.

The Sea Dogs allowed five unanswered goals, four of which were surrendered in the third period. Moncton scored two power play markers, an even strength goal, and a shorthanded goal – which was the game-winner – in the third.

Mistakes and undisciplined play cost the Sea Dogs in this one. It was certainly not the result fans wanted to see following the coaching change made this week.

Spencer Smallman and Oliver Cooper scored for the Dogs. Sebastien Auger made 36 saves in the loss.

JC Campagna scored twice for the Wildcats while singles came from Garrett Johnston, Mathieu Olivier, Ivan Barbashev, and Christophe Lalonde. Alex Dubeau made 26 saves for the win.

Saint John is now 5-11-0-2 on the season and remain 17^th overall. Yeah.

FIRST PERIOD

Spencer Smallman had the first good chance early in the game but was stopped by the pad of Wildcats goaltender Alex Dubeau.

Moncton went to the man advantage at 2:13 but, despite some decent pressure, could not create any good scoring chances.

Mathieu Olivier opened the scoring at 5:42 with his first QMJHL goal to make it 1-0 Wildcats. Olivier grabbed the puck near the top of the faceoff circle, skated in a bit, and then roofed the puck over Sebastien Auger.

Saint John went to the power play at 5:49. They would tie it up at 7:22 as Nathan Noel fed Smallman in front. Smallman made a nice move and went around a fallen Dubeau and put the disc in to make it 1-1.

A fight took place at 8:34 as Lukas Walter and Reid Halabi dropped the gloves for a spirited tilt.

Saint John had another power play chance at 8:48 but couldn’t get much going.

The two teams would then exchange quite a few quality chances. Auger and Dubeau were dialed in.

Moncton went back to the man advantage at 16:30 at Thomas Chabot went to the box. Moncton had some pressure on but nothing else.

Shots were 14-10 Sea Dogs in the first.

SECOND PERIOD

The Wildcats went to the power play at 1:40 as Jurij Repe headed to the box. Christophe Lalonde had a great chance but was robbed by the pad of Auger.

Will Smith went to the box at 6:21. Stephen Johnson had a good shorthanded opportunity but was stopped. Just when it looked like Moncton would kill it off, Dubeau was behind the net and tried to move the puck somewhere but it went right to Oliver Cooper’s stick. Cooper scored to give Saint John a 2-1 lead.

At 13:09, JC Campagna grabbed a loose puck in front and beat Auger with a backhand shot to make it a 2-2 game.

Stephen Anderson and Kyle Haas dropped the gloves at 15:26 for a short fight.

Josh Pugsley went to the box for interference at 15:39 but Saint John’s power play was shortened when Joey Richard went to the box at 16:40. Lalonde had a good chance during the Wildcats power play.

Soon after, the puck got into the Moncton crease area and behind Dubeau during a scramble but the Dogs were unable to get a stick on it.

Saint John had some pressure on in the final minute. Cameron Yarwood went to the box at 19:21, giving Saint John a power play to kick off the third.

Shots were 13-7 Moncton in the second.

THIRD PERIOD

Saint John had the power play to start the third but it would be Moncton scoring. At 1:03, Stephen Johnson fed Lalonde who fired a shot the snuck under Auger to give Moncton a 3-2 lead.

Jeremy Doucet went to the box for tripping at 5:33 to give the ‘Cats another man advantage. Moncton would take advantage as Ivan Barbashev was fed with a cross crease feed to make it 4-2 Wildcats.

Oliver Cooper went to the box at 7:07. Exactly two-minutes later, the Wildcats won a faceoff and then Campagna quickly let a shot go from just above the dot to make it a 5-2 game.

At 10:56, Olivier LeBlanc picked up a roughing penalty and Cooper was given a 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike behaviour.

At 19:06, the Wildcats wrapped up the scoring summary with a nice goal from Garrett Johnston. That made it 6-2.

With nine seconds left, Repe was given a four-minute penalty for checking from behind.

Shots in the third were 19-7 Wildcats and 42-28 Moncton overall.

The Sea Dogs went 2-for-5 on the power play while the Wildcats went 2-for-9.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Charlottetown Islanders tomorrow night at 7pm at the Station.