RECAP: The Ehlers Show. Dogs Lose 5-3.

FINAL: Halifax 5, Saint John 3

SAINT JOHN – A three-goal third period led the Halifax Mooseheads to a 5-3 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday night at Harbour Station.

The Sea Dogs were up 3-1 in the second period but the Mooseheads stormed back with four straight unanswered goals. Despite Saint John blowing their lead and only getting 19 shots on goal, this was definitely one of the more entertaining games of the season.

Nikolaj Ehlers had quite a night, registering a goal and four assists. Darcy Ashley had two goals and two goals while Luca Ciampini and Timo Meier added singles. Kevin Darveau, starting in place of Team Canada goaltender Zach Fucale, made 16 saves in the win.

Sea Dogs goals came from Marcus Cuomo, Noah Zilbert, and Nicolas Hebert. Sebastien Auger made 31 saves in the loss.

Also, both Samuel Dove-McFalls and Joey Richard were hurt in the second period of this game.

FIRST PERIOD

MacKeznie Weegar had the first good chance of the game as he walked into the slot area but sent his shot wide. Soon after, Joey Richard sent a shot in on Kevin Darveau in the Moose net that produced a rebound. Marcus Cuomo was there but couldn’t get much of a shot off.

Halifax went to the power play at 4:21. At 5:41, a crisp Nikolaj Ehlers feed found Luca Ciampini who redirected the puck in to make it 1-0 Mooseheads.

Saint John then went to the power play at 6:49. Cuomo walked along the goal line and then sent a backhand shot past Dareau to tie things up at 1-1 at 8:30.

The Moose went back to the man advantage at 11:08 thanks to Saint John having too many men on the ice. Then at 12:29, David Weckworth’s hit on Matt Murphy was deemed illegal, sending the Moose to a five-on-three. Not long after that five-on-three expired, Halifax was given another five-on-three advantage for 35 seconds at 13:55. Nikolaj Ehlers had the best chance but a cross ice feed was too hot to handle and he sent the puck high. The Harbour Station crowd gave the Sea Dogs a nice ovation when they killed off the penalties.

Shots in the opening frame were 16-6 in favour of Halifax.

SECOND PERIOD

Saint John went to the power play just 41 seconds in but couldn’t create any good chances.

At 4:58, Austyn Hardie drilled Joey Richard into the end boards. Chaos then ensued with Hardie and Kelly Bent fighting. Hardie got a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding while Bent got all the instigator stuff. Richard was injured on the play and had to be helped off the ice by athletic therapist JP Laciak. This came just moments after Samuel Dove-McFalls left the game with an injury.

There were two minutes of four-on-four and then a three-minute Sea Dogs power play. Unfortunately for Saint John, they couldn’t create many quality scoring chances.

Back at even strength, an innocent looking wrist shot from the top of circle by Noah Zilbert beat Darveau. It may have a hit a Moosehead on its way through. Either way that made it 2-1 Saint John at 11:25.

Seven seconds later, Nicolas Hebert fired a shot that went off a Mooseheads stick and in to make it 3-1 Saint John just like that.

Halifax went to the man advantage at 12:47 as Weckworth was called for interference. Halifax couldn’t get much going on the power play.

At 16:20, the Moose would get something going as an Ehlers shot from the faceoff dot got past Sebastien Auger’s blocker and off the post and in. That made it 3-2.

Saint John had another power play late but didn’t do much once again.

Shots were 8-7 Saint John in the second.

THIRD PERIOD

Darcy Ashley tipped the puck past Auger at 5:11 to tie the game at 3-3.

Soon after, following a good Saint John scoring chance, Auger made a nice stop on Ciampini backhander. Later on, Murphy’s backhand shot through a scramble in the crease went wide. This all came during a stretch of good paced action.

Halifax nearly took the lead midway through the period when the puck got behind Auger and near the goal line but was kept out.

Halifax took a 4-3 lead at 15:44. Timo Meier performed a wraparound and during a scramble the puck went off Matthew Highmore and in. Very unfortunate.

The Sea Dogs didn’t do themselves any favours late in the game as Jurij Repe took a cross checking penalty at 18:39. The team pulled Auger in the final minute to make it five vs five but Ashley netted an empty netter at 19:13 to make it a 5-3 final.

Shots were 13-5 Moose in the final frame.

Saint John went 1-for-4 on the power play while Halifax went 2-for-6.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow afternoon at 3pm at Harbour Station.