FINAL: Saint John 3, Sherbrooke 2 (OT)
SHERBROOKE, Que. – They blew of a two-goal
lead but the Saint John Sea Dogs were still able to earn two points.
Jakub Zboril’s overtime goal lifted the Sea Dogs to a 3-2 victory over the Sherbrooke Phoenix on Wednesday
night. Despite blowing a two-goal lead, a win is a win, and this is a positive
start to a three-game Quebec road trip.
Zboril, Daniel Del Paggio and Sam
Povorozniouk all had goals for the Sea Dogs while Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 35
saves in the win. Julien Pelletier and Kevin Gilbert replied for the Phoenix
while Evan Fitzpatrick made 23 stops in the loss.
Nathan Noel had a penalty shot 1:26 into
the game but was stopped by the glove of Fitzpatrick. That proved to be the
most eventful thing to happen in rather uneventful opening frame. Shots were
just 8-5 in favour of Saint John.
After a shot from inside the line hit the
glove of Thomas Gregoire in the slot, Del Paggio found it and deposited the
puck past Fitzpatrick to open the scoring at 3:57. 29 seconds later, Jordan
King was behind the net and fired the puck in front to Povorozniouk who scored
to give Saint John a quick 2-0 advantage.
The Phoenix got on the board at 8:39 when
Guillaume Gauthier sent a perfect pass to Pelletier who tipped the puck past
Turcotte. Danny Flynn wasn’t happy about the goal, arguing that Fitzpatrick
hadn’t gotten to the bench when the extra attacker touched the puck. The goal
would was reviewed for a couple minutes but stood as a good goal.
The Phoenix tied things up at 4:58. Following
a offensive zone faceoff win, Gilbert picked up the loose puck and jammed it
past Turcotte. Near the final minute of the frame, Mathieu Joseph had a great
chance but couldn’t connect, sending the game to overtime.
1:13 into overtime, Spencer Smallman centered
the puck to a wide-open Zboril in the slot. The Czech d-man fired a hard wrist
shot past Fitzpatrick to give Saint John a 3-2 victory.
- Forwards Samuel Dove-McFalls, Matt Green and Julien Tessier along with defenseman Oliver Felixson all missed the game due to injury. According to Tim Roszell on the 96.1 NewSong FM pre-game show, Tessier and Felixson could be back in the lineup by the end of this road trip. Joe Veleno also missed the game due to the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.
- Defenseman Luke Green returned to the lineup. Forward Ryan Chiasson was sent back down to the MHL while Jordan King was called up for this trip.
- King’s assist on Povorozniouk’s goal was his first point as a Sea Dog.
- Daniel Del Paggio has goals in back-to-back games and points in three straight.
- Matthew Highmore’s assist on the overtime goal was the 100th point of his career.
- Jakub Zboril now has goals in three straight games.
- Guillaume Gauthier’s four-game goal streak came to an end. He finished the night with one assist.
TURNING POINT
This game could have gone either way after
the Phoenix started to fire up the engines following Pelletier’s second period
goal. The turning point has to be Zboril’s goal.
TWEET OF THE NIGHT
Quiet night on the Twitter.
—
François Carignan (@CarignanTQN) November
5, 2015
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs head to Drummondville to battle the
Voltigeurs on Friday at 8 p.m.
Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
Photo: Marc Henwood/Station Nation
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