RECAP: Sea Dogs Win 2-0

FINAL: Halifax 0, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN – In a game that probably won’t be remembered for its goaltending, Alex Bishop was excellent in his first career QMJHL shutout.

Bishop made 32 saves in the Saint John Sea Dogs’ 2-0 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads on Thursday night at Harbour Station. The netminder made several key stops to keep the Sea Dogs in front.

It wasn’t the greatest night for Saint John’s offense – which has been rolling for the past couple months – but the Dogs were able to score enough to secure the victory. Mathieu Joseph and Joe Veleno each had goals.

At the other end, Eric Brassard made 34 saves in the loss.

This game will be remembered for The Fight. After two months of build up, Bokondji Imama and Kelly Bent finally faced each other for the first time since The Incident way back in early December. There were questions about what would happen – if anything would happen. Boy, did something happen.

Just 3:24 into the game, Bent and Imama gave us the most anticipated fight in the QMJHL this year. Emotional times.

The Imama/Bent fight two months in the making pic.twitter.com/RjtnHWkTtW

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) February 25, 2016

With that out of the way, Saint John opened the scoring at 11:14 just as a Mooseheads penalty was expiring. Thomas Chabot entered the slot and sent a pass to Joseph in the crease. The Dogs forward beat a fallen Brassard to make it 1-0.

Late in the period Max Fortier had a breakaway but was denied by Bishop, keeping the score 1-0 Sea Dogs after one.

At 4:17 of the second, Otto Somppi was given a five-minute boarding penalty and tossed from the game for a hit on Chabot. The Sea Dogs defenseman would be okay.

Somppi hit on Chabot pic.twitter.com/w0fv4PJyy2

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) February 26, 2016

The Sea Dogs couldn’t get much going on the power play though and even gave Halifax a glorious chance to tie things up. Bishop made a few more key saves to keep Saint John up by one after 40 minutes.

Fittingly, at 2:20 of the third, Imama entered the zone and fed the puck to Veleno. The exceptional rookie waited and fired a sharp angle shot past Brassard to make it 2-0 Saint John.

The Moose pulled Brassard late in the game but could not beat Bishop, giving Saint John a 2-0 victory.

NOTES

• The Sea Dogs were without Adam Marsh (day-to-day – upper body), Alex Bernier (healthy), Nico Blachman (healthy) and Bailey Webster (upper body).
• Cole Reginato, who was scratched for all three games of Saint John’s Quebec road trip, was inserted into the lineup to replace Marsh.
• Mathieu Joseph now has goals in seven straight home games.
• Alex Bishop, who only saw six minutes of action during Saint John’s three-game road trip, made his first start since Feb. 13.
• With the fight, Bokondji Imama has finally matched Nathan Noel’s five fights.
• According to Mooseheads social media, Matt Murphy is the only active player in the QMJHL from Halifax’s 2013 Memorial Cup championship team.
• Samuel Dove-McFalls was injured in the third period but quickly returned.
• The Sea Dogs and Mooseheads meet for the final time this season on Saturday in Halifax.

TURNING POINT

Joe Veleno’s goal gave the Dogs some safety in the third period.

SN PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Bokondji Imama and Kelly Bent. No "will though or won’t though" anticipation. They met up and got it over with early. Props to both.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs are in Halifax on Saturday night to face the Mooseheads ay 7 p.m.