The Saint John Sea Dogs could only get 12 shots - four in each period - on Zach Fucale in a 4-0 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads on Saturday night at Harbour Station. Of those 12 shots, just four were considered dangerous by the league.
It wasn’t like the Dogs weren’t given chances. They had eight power plays in the game but didn’t do much on any of them. It was certainly a frustrating night for Saint John’s offense.
Of course, some credit has to be given to the Mooseheads who won their 10th straight game with this victory. Philippe Gadoury was unreal and recorded two goals. Connor Moynihan and Darcy Ashley added singles while Fucale made 12 saves for the shutout win.
The loss obviously didn’t help Saint John’s playoff chances. With Shawinigan losing in a shootout, the Dogs are now two points back of the final playoff spot with a game in-hand. Tomorrow’s game in Bathurst is huge.
FIRST PERIOD
It was all Mooseheads in the first few minutes of the first and it looked like they were on the power play at times. Then at 4:25, they went to the man advantage. Halifax had plenty of zone time but not a tone of chances. Their best chance came when Philippe Gadoury was stopped by Sebastien Auger on a rebound chance.
A few minutes later, Nikolaj Ehlers was robbed by the glove of Auger.
Saint John finally got their first shot on net with 9:17 left to play in the first period. The Dogs went to the power play soon after at 10:57. They had a few good chances early on in the man advantage but not a whole lot later on. Zach Fucale was sharp.
The Mooseheads had another man advantage at 16:18 but couldn’t create any quality scoring chances.
Shots in the first were 13-4 Moose.
SECOND PERIOD
Halifax opened the scoring at 2:08. Andrew Shewfelt fed Connor Moynihan to make it 1-0 Mooseheads.
Saint John went to their first of many power plays at 4:51 but couldn’t get much going. Back at even strength, Auger made a nice save off of Gadoury.
At 8:30, the Dogs had another power play. They had some decent pressure applied but no good chances. Then at 13:40, Nikolaj Ehlers joined Jacob Jacques who was already in the box. But Saint John could not get any quality opportunities despite the five-on-three advantage.
Halifax went to the power play at 15:20. At 17:14, a pass from the point found Gadoury down low. He walked through the area above the crease and fired a nice backhand shot past Auger to make it 2-0.
Shane MacDonald and Samuel Leblanc dropped the gloves at 17:25.
The Dogs got yet another power play at 17:54 but that ended when Noah Zilbert took down Ehlers at 18:51.
Shots in the second period were 15-4 in favour of Halifax.
THIRD PERIOD
In the third, the Dogs were on a power play but Halifax had a decent scoring chance. Brent Andrews fired the puck on a two-on-one but was stopped by Auger.
At 7:37, Kelly Bent and Brian Lovell dropped the gloves. Some big punches were thrown.
At 11:32, Darcy Ashley scored some goal to make it 3-0 Mooseheads and start to send people to the exits.
Halifax went to another power play at 14:43. On the man advantage at 15:18, Gadoury was at the side of the net but his original shot was stopped by Auger’s pad. He picked up his own rebound and roofed it to make it 4-0.
Another fight took place at 17:26 between Alexander McQuaid and Danny Moynihan but this one was rather uneventful.
That would be the game. Shots were 10-4 Moose in the third.
Saint John went 0-for-8 on the power play while Halifax went 2-for-7.
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst and take on the Titan tomorrow afternoon at 3pm at the KC Irving Regional Centre.
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