RECAP: The Lights Go Out In Sydney. Dogs Lose 7-1.

FINAL: Saint John 1, Cape Breton 7

SYDNEY, NS – Well, that was ugly.

The Cape Breton Screaming Eagles scored five goals following a lighting problem at Centre 200 en route to a 7-1 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Sunday evening. With the win, the Eagles have clinched a playoff spot.

The Screaming Eagles led 2-0 after one and Jason Cameron had just gotten the Sea Dogs on the board at 9:13 of the second when a lighting issue sent both teams to the dressing room. This caused a roughly 20-minute delay and seemed to take away any wind that was in Saint John’s sails from the Cameron goal. Cape Breton scored three more in the period and another two in the third in the blowout victory.

Saint John managed to outshoot Cape Breton 30-28 in the game but the Dogs certainly didn’t have a ton of quality scoring chances. The Dogs, who are in a fight for the league’s final playoff spot, have now lost four straight heading in Thursday’s missive game against Shawinigan.

The Screaming Eagles had a pair of goals from Julien Pelletier while singles came from Guillaume Gauthier, Kyle Farrell, Charles-Eric Legare, Bronson Beaton, and Loik Leveille. Alex Bureau made 29 saves in the victory.

Antoine Landry made his first start in over a month but did not fare too well, allowing seven goals on 28 shots.

Cape Breton kicked things off with a shorthanded goal at 7:39 of the first. Pelletier entered the zone and weaved around David Weckworth before beating Landry with a wrist shot to make it 1-0.

The Eagles doubled their lead at 17:39. A long shot was stopped by Landry but he allowed a big rebound. Gauthier basically had an open net to make it a 2-0 game.

It was a fairly uneventful period other than the goals. Shots were 10-5 Cape Breton.

Cameron got Saint John on the board at 9:13 of the second. He entered the zone all alone and fired a hard shot over the pad of Bureau to make it 2-1.

But not long after that goal, the lights went out at Centre 200. The main, big lights were experiencing some problems and that caused a roughly 20 minute delay.

When the lights came on so did the Eagles offense. On a power play, Cameron Darcy made a perfect pass to Pelletier who was in the slot to make it a 3-1 contest at 11:13.

At 13:42, Farrell performed a wraparound but was stopped. Maxim Lazarev picked it up and then sent it back to Farrell in front who made it 4-1.

Then at 18:26, a Justin Hache point shot was tipped past Landry by Legare to make it 5-1 after two. Shots were 13-8 Eagles in the frame.

The Eagles took a 6-1 lead at 6:24 of the third as Beaton picked up a loose puck and scored.

Then at 15:09, the Eagles made it 7-1 as Leveille fired a wrist shot from the dot during a five-on-three power play.

The penalties kept coming late in the period as the two teams continued to get involved in some heated exchanges. Even Cape Breton’s backup goalie was getting involved in the chirping.

Shots in the third were 12-10 in favour of Saint John.

The Sea Dogs went 0-for-5 on the power play while the Screaming Eagles went 1-for-6.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Shawinigan Cataractes on Thursday night at Harbour Station.