RECAP: Good Times. Dogs Win 4-3.

FINAL: Drummondville 3, Saint John 4

SAINT JOHN – Make it three straight wins for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Samuel Dove-McFalls scored twice while singles came from Noah Zilbert and Matthew Highmore as the Sea Dogs edged the Drummondville Voltigeurs 4-3 in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action at Harbour Station on Saturday night.

Saint John has now won three straight and have picked up points in each of their past four games. Saturday’s game was much like the past two – the Sea Dogs were outshot by a wide margin at times but were able to score timely goals and get excellent goaltending to hang on for the win.

Sebastien Auger was terrific as usual, making 32 saves in the win. 23 of the 35 shots Drummondville fired on Auger came in the first 40 minutes. Saint John had nine shots in that time frame.

Charles-David Beaudoin scored twice for Drummondville while Jerome Verrier added a solo marker. Joe Fleschler allowed three goals on nine shots in 40 minutes of action. Louis-Philip Guindon made 11 saves in the third.

FIRST PERIOD

Alexander McQuaid went off for roughing at 3:01 to send Drummondville’s power play to work. But Saint John produced a solid penalty kill to keep things even at 0-0.

At 6:32, Sergei Boikov levelled Nicolas Hebert with an open ice hit. Boikov was given a game misconduct and five-minute major for interference while Hebert went to the dressing room. Unfortunately for the Dogs, they wasted their opportunity and could only get one shot on goal. Marcus Cuomo also had a great chance in front but fired wide.

With nine seconds left in the power play, Samuel Dove-McFalls went off for tripping. The Volts had some good pressure during the power play but could not connect.

Saint John went back to the man advantage at 15:44. At 15:51, A Thomas Chabot pass found Noah Zilbert in front. Zilbert tipped the puck in to make it 1-0 Saint John.

McQuaid went off again at 15:56 for roughing... again. Soon after Drummondville hit the post, Charles-David Beaudoin fired a point shot at 17:52 to tie things up at 1-1.

Shots in the first were 11-4 Volts.

SECOND PERIOD

The first few minutes of the second featured some back-and-forth play.

At 6:04, Dove-McFalls gave Saint John a 2-1 lead as he tipped a Mathieu Joseph shot past Volts netminder Joe Fleschler.

A little later on, Auger made a couple of nice saves, including a point blank shot from Jerome Verrier.

The Sea Dogs took a 3-1 lead at 9:43 as Dove-McFalls slipped a nice backhand shot past Fleschler.

Christophe Lalancette had a great chance at the side of the crease moments later but Auger made a big time pad save.

Jurij Repe went off for slashing at 15:03 and Drummondville would take advantage. Beaudoin netted his second of the game at 15:26 with a shot from just below the Telus ad that went upstairs on Auger to make it a 3-2 contest.

Shots were 12-5 in favour of Drummondville in the second stanza.

THIRD PERIOD

The Sea Dogs went to the power play at 6:48 of the third. On that man advantage, Verrier beat Auger upstairs, blocker side to tie things up at 3-3.

Soon after, Verrier had a great chance to give his team the lead but hit the post. Then, Matthew Highmore went in one-on-one but was stopped by Louis-Philip Guindon who started the third for the Volts.

At 10:44, Nikolas Brouillard took a hooking penalty and Georgs Golovkovs took a high-sticking penalty to give the Sea Dogs a two-minute five-on-three power play. The Sea Dogs had some pressure on but couldn’t create a lot of quality scoring chances. Nathan Noel was awarded a penalty shot late in the man advantage but was stopped. But in the dying seconds, an Oliver Cooper shot went to the goal line and was finished off by Matthew Highmore to give the Dogs a 4-3 lead at 12:41.

With 1:41 left in the game the Volts decided to gamble and pull Guindon. The Volts had some pressure on but Auger stood tall and kept the lead intact.

Shots were 12-12 in the third.

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

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Halifax Mooseheads on Tuesday night at Harbour Station.