FINAL: Saint John 2, Val-d’Or 6
A three-goal second period propelled the
Val-d’Or Foreurs past the Sea Dogs by a final score of 6-2 at the Air Creebec
Centre. Julien Gauthier scored a pair of goals while singles came from Anthony
Richard, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Filip Pyrochta and Olivier Galipeau. Etienne
Montpetit made 28 saves in the victory.
Jakub Zboril and Adam Marsh scored for
Saint John. Marc-Antoine Turcotte made 33 saves while Alex Bishop made three
stops.
With the loss, the Sea Dogs finish their
incredibly difficult Quebec road trip with a 1-2-0-0 record – which really
isn’t all that bad.
Saint John opened the scoring at 12:14.
Following an offensive zone faceoff win by Nathan Noel, the puck came back to
Thomas Chabot who fed Zboril. The Boston Bruins prospect one timed a quick slap
shot through some traffic and past Montpetit to make it 1-0 Sea Dogs.
With Kyle Ward in the box for hooking,
the Foreurs quickly tied the game. At 15:11, Anthony Beauregard was behind the
net and had all the time in the world to find an open Galipeau in front, tying
things at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
The Foreurs took their first lead of the
game at 4:47 of the second when Richard sniped his 36th goal of the
season past a stretched out Turcotte.
Val-d’Or spent much of the first half of
the second period on the power play. Saint John was able to kill all of them
off but were outshot 16-7 in the frame.
At 18:10, the Foreurs extended their
lead to 3-1. Gauthier dropped the puck to Richard who then fed it back to
Gauthier in front of the net, beating Turcotte in close. Then with 11 seconds
remaining in the period, Aube-Kubel sped past the Saint John defense and beat
Turcotte glove side to make it a 4-1 contest.
At 7:40 of the third, Marsh sped past
the Val-d’Or defense and beat Montpetit with a wrist shot to get Saint John
back in it. But less than two minutes later at 9:10, Richard made a cross ice
feed to an open Gauthier who made it 5-2.
Pyrochta made it 6-2 with a power play
goal at 13:59, beating Turcotte from with a wrist shot from the top of the
circle. That ended Turcotte’s night as Bishop took over net duties.
Things were a little feisty throughout
the game. Finally, during a stoppage in play at 14:19, Bokondji Imama and David
Henley dropped the gloves for a fight.
- The Sea Dogs were without Bailey Webster (upper body), Cole Reginato (healthy), Nico Blachman (healthy) and Gabriel Bettez (healthy).
- This was Saint John’s final game in Quebec this regular season.
- Jakub Zboril scored his first goal since Jan. 15 and his second goal since Nov. 4.
- The Sea Dogs lost just their fifth game in regulation time when scoring first.
- Val-d’Or picked up their 23rd home win in their 29th home game.
- The Foreurs definitely were not afraid to make contact with Marc-Antoine Turcotte throughout the contest.
- Speaking of Turcotte, he started all three games of this road trip.
- Bokondji Imama’s fight with David Henley was just his fourth of the season and his first since the infamous Kelly Bent tilt.
- Adam Marsh now has points in eight straight road games. He also has six goals in his past six games.
- Nathan Noel struggled in the faceoff circle, winning two of 13 draws.
- Saint John’s lead in the Maritimes Division is now three points over the Moncton Wildcats. However, the Sea Dogs still have two games in-hand. The Wildcats host the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon.
TURNING POINT
Nicolas Aube-Kubel’s goal with 11
seconds left in the second period – which made it 4-1 Val-d’Or – really put the
game in favour of the Foreurs.
SN PLAYER OF THE GAME
Julien Gauthier. He is quite good at the
sport of hockey.
TWEET OF THE GAME
The penalty boxes in Val-d’Or really are
just bizarre.
Whatta dumb spot for a penalty box ... Beauregard chirping to Imama from the bench— Kevin Chambers (@SN_Canucklehead) February 21, 2016
NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs host Kelly Bent and the Halifax
Mooseheads on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
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