GAME DAY 27: at Shawinigan

The Saint John Sea Dogs (17-6-2-1, 1st Maritimes, 2nd QMJHL) play one of their biggest games of the season so far tonight in Shawinigan. Game time against the Cataractes (17-7-1-0, 1st East, 3rd QMJHL) is 8 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/96.1 NewSong FM/QMJHL Live

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a solid 5-1 road win in Rimouski on Tuesday. Bokondji Imama scored twice while singles came from Mathieu Joseph, Thomas Chabot and Oliver Felixson. Alex D'Orio made 28 saves in the win. The Cataractes are coming off a 6-2 loss in Cape Breton on Sunday. Samuel Guilbault and Alexis D'Aoust scored for Shawinigan. Mikhail Denisov made four saves while Zachary Bouthillier made 14.

2016-17 head-to-head: This is the first meeting of the season.

2015-16 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 2-0-0-0 against the Cataractes last regular season while Shawinigan went 0-2-0-0 against Saint John. In the playoffs, Shawinigan won the best-of-seven QMJHL semifinal 4-1.

Last meeting: Game 5 of the league semifinal in Shawinigan where the Cataractes defeated the Sea Dogs 6-3. Alex Pawelczyk and Anthony Beauvillier each had two goals for Shawinigan while singles came from Dennis Yan and Dmytro Timashov. Saint John goals came from Matt Murphy, Joe Veleno and Thomas Chabot. Philippe Cadorette made 33 saves in the win. Marc-Antoine Turcotte was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots. Alex Bishop allowed two goals on 13 shots in relief.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Cataractes: None

Random stat: Mathieu Joseph is back in the league lead for goals with 23.

Three Things to Know
1. Despite a number of injuries and illness to key players, the Sea Dogs are on an impressive run right now. The team is 6-0-1-1 in their past seven games and 7-1-1-1 in their last 10.

2. The Sea Dogs recalled forward Isiah Campbell from the Lac St-Louis Lions this afternoon. Campbell was a third round pick of the Sea Dogs in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft.

3. Saint John is a perfect 3-0-0-0 against East Division teams this season.

Notes: Mathieu Joseph leads the Sea Dogs in points with 37 and goals with 23... Matthew Highmore leads the club in assists with 23... Samuel Girard leads the Cataractes in points with 33 and assists with 30... Dennis Yan leads the team in goals with 16... Girard's 33 points place him in a tie for the league lead amongst defencemen... Cavan Fitzgerald's nine goals place him in a tie for the league lead in d-men goal scoring... Shawinigan is 10-2-0-0 at home... Saint John is 8-4-1-1 on the road... Joseph has points in 13 straight games... Girard has points in nine straight home games.

Out of town:
There are no other games tonight.

Next game: The Sea Dogs visit Drummondville to take on the Voltigeurs tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m.