RECAP: Sea Dogs Lose 4-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Baie-Comeau 4

BAIE-COMEAU – The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are heading to Saint John with a 2-0 series lead.

The Drakkar took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven first round playoff series with a 4-1 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday at the Henry Leonard Centre. Baie-Comeau won game one 3-1 on Friday night.

Nicolas Meloche, Simon Desbiens, Maxime St-Cyr and Anthony Beauchamp scored for the Drakkar while Philippe Cadorette made 24 saves in the win.

Once again, Saint John’s inability to score on the power play proved costly. The Drakkar did an excellent job at blocking shots by getting bodies in passing and shooting lanes to make the Sea Dogs 1/9 on the man advantage. Baie-Comeau, meanwhile, went 1/6 on the power play.

Nathan Noel had Saint John’s only goal while Sebastien Auger made 33 stops in the loss.

To the surprise of nobody, there were plenty of penalties called in the first period. After being unsuccessful on their first two chances, Saint John went to the man advantage again at 12:00. Luke Green had a terrific chance, getting the puck past Cadorette but it somehow stayed out. At 13:07, Cadorette intentionally knocked the net off and was called for delay of game. On the penalty kill, the Drakkar did a great job at blocking shots and kept Saint John scoring chances to a minimum.

The Sea Dogs’ power play was cut short at 14:40 when Mathieu Joseph was called for charging. Baie-Comeau had some good pressure applied but couldn’t connect. Late in the period and back at even strength, Jasmin Boutet had a chance in front but was denied by Auger’s pad. Shots were 12-6 in favour of the Drakkar in the first.

Baie-Comeau headed to the power play at 7:16. On the man advantage, a point shot from Meloche changed direction and went over Auger to give Baie-Comeau a 1-0 advantage.

Saint John went to the power play at 9:28 and again at 12:02 but could not convert on either. The Sea Dogs were 0/7 on the power play through two periods.

At 15:02, Desbiens was left alone in the slot and fired a wrist shot high glove side on Auger to give the Drakkar a 2-0 advantage. Soon after, Frederic Gamelin had a break but was stopped by the Sea Dogs goaltender.

The Drakkar went to the power play at 3:51 of the third. Spencer Smallman had a great shorthanded chance but was denied by the pad of Cadorette. Just after the power play expired, St-Cyr put the Drakkar up 3-0 with a shot that beat Auger five-hole.

Saint John went to yet another power play at 6:12 and where finally able to convert at 7:33 when Noel slapped the puck past Cadorette. That made it a 3-1 game.

The Sea Dogs were awarded one last power play at 16:29. The Dogs even pulled Auger late in the man advantage to create a six-on-four but could not connect. 

The Drakkar made it a 4-1 game with three seconds left thanks to an empty net goal from Beauchamp.

TURNING POINT/BIG MOMENT

Saint John’s power play. If the Dogs could get their PP clicking in this series… magical things could happen.

TWEET OF THE GAME

End to end rush by Thomas Chabot https://t.co/jTkBnPdJmq
— Jérôme Bérubé (@Jerome_Berube) March 28, 2015

NOTES

• The Sea Dogs were without forwards Justice Dundas (lower body), Adam Marsh (lower body), Mitchell Dempsey (healthy/leg) and Ryan Kenny (healthy) along with defenseman Bailey Webster (upper body).
• The only lineup change was swapping Green for Dempsey up front. According to Tim Roszell, Dempsey got a small cut on his leg after being stepped on by an official in game one.
• Adam Bateman and Jakub Zboril were each a -3.
• Six of Jeremy Gregoire’s seven shots were considered dangerous.
• Another solid atmosphere at the Henry Leonard Centre.
• Basically do or die on Tuesday.

NEXT GAME
Game three takes place on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at Harbour Station.

Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation