RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 4-3

FINAL: Gatineau 3, Saint John 4 (SO)

By Kevin Chambers | SN Staff

SAINT JOHN - The Sea Dogs made their way back to Harbour Station on Friday after two weeks on the road, defeating the first place overall Gatineau Olympiques by score if 4-3 in a shootout.

Saint John got off to a very fast start, taking just 49 seconds for Daniel Del Paggio to bury one past Mathieu Bellemare. But, the Olympiques’ Yan Pavel Laplante scored a league leading third shorthanded goal on a breakaway to even things at 1-1 at the 10:37 mark.

The second period got off to a similar start with Boko Imama powering home a wrist shot from the slot just 2:04 into the middle frame. Laplante would even things with his second of the game on a power play at 5:42. The Sea Dogs answered though with a beautiful passing play between Del Paggio, Joe Veleno, and Luke Green – who eventually finished it off - to put the Sea Dogs in front 3-2, which was how the second period ended.

The final stanza saw lots of back and forth action with the loan goal coming just after Gatineau had pulled Bellemare at 18:35. Vitalii Abramov waited for Marc-Antoine Turcotte to come off the post and sniped one short side to even the game at 3-3 and send it to overtime.

Both teams had power plays in overtime but neither could cash in sending the game to a shootout.

Nathan Noel pulled out his Datsyuk type deke, sliding the puck to the post side and waiting for Bellemare to be down and out before lifting it over top. That made it 1-0 Saint John. Yakov Trenin was next to shoot and he shot wid. Adam Marsh then surprised nobody and used his bullet wrist shot to make it 2-0 Saint John. Abramov had to score and did sliding a nice deke move under Turcotte to make it 2-1. Mathieu Joseph took the final shot, another wrister, that beat Bellemare to clinch the victory for Saint John.

STATS

NOTES

• The entire Sea Dogs roster was reintroduced at the start the game - without the fire.
• Adam Bateman made his return to the lineup after sitting out with an ankle injury last weekend.
• Julien Tessier sat this one out. It’s believed the team is easing him back after an illness saw him miss some time. He also had his family in town.
• Joe Veleno and Oliver Felixson did the rookie duty and picked up pucks after the warmup (no exceptional rule here).
• Also in town for tonight’s game were Oliver Felixson’s parents.
• Alex Dostie of the Olympiques suffered a shoulder injury in a game against Sherbrooke and did not play in this contest.
• Adam Marsh appeared to injure his shoulder after throwing a hit but did stay in the game. The same can’t be said for Samuel Dove-McFalls who at some point left the game.
• Sea Dogs’ prospect Ian Smallwood had a hat trick for the Saint John Vito’s. Fellow prospect and Vito’s forward Alexandre Lafreniere had a goal and an assist
• Attendance for this game was 3,264

TURNING POINT

This game was so back and forth the turning point fittingly wasn’t until the shootout when Saint John took over, scoring with all three shooters.

SN PLAYERS OF THE GAME

1. Marc-Antoine Turcotte

2. Yan Pavel Laplante

3. Daniel Del Paggio

TWEET OF THE GAME

It’s in French but the hashtag sells itself. Great stuff here.

🚨BUUUUUUT!!!🚨 #Abracadabramov marque en fin de période et c'est 3-3!! #GoOLGo pic.twitter.com/SSHaG6oI1t

— Olympiques Gatineau (@LesOlympiques) October 3, 2015

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs are right back at it tomorrow night at 7 p.m. when they take on the Shawinigan Cataractes.