RECAP: Sea Dogs lose 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Bathurst 5
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BATHURST - A three-goal second period propelled the Acadie-Bathurst Titan past the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday night.

Liam Murphy scored two of his three goals on the second stanza, leading the Titan to a 5-1 win over the Sea Dogs at the KC Irving Regional Centre. Saint John has now lost eight straight games overall and 13 straight on the road.

Along with Murphy's hat trick, Bathurst had goals from Noah Dobson and Adam Holwell. Evan Fitzpatrick made 21 saves in the victory.

Kevin Mason scored Saint John's lone goal. Matthew Williams made 38 saves in the loss.

William Poirier was given a five-minute major for boarding at 6:40 of the first period after putting Holwell into the end boards. Things got even worse for Saint John at 9:40 when Cedric Pare was called for goaltender interference, giving Bathurst a lengthy five-on-three power play. At 10:19, Dobson finished off a nice passing play by firing a low wrist shot past Williams, making it 1-0.

Mason tied the game at 14:53. Ben Reid crossed the line and sent the puck over to Mason in the slot. The rookie forward fired a wrist shot under the glove of Fitzpatrick to make it a 1-1 game.

Murphy gave Bathurst a 2-1 lead at 5:03 of the second, crossing the blue line and beating Williams blocker side with a perfectly placed wrist shot.

Holwell scored at 12:37, giving the Titan a 3-1 lead. The puck made its way to Holwell in the slot where he fired a wrist shot past Williams' glove.

Murphy's second of the game at 19:32 gave Bathurst a 5-1 advantage through 40 minutes.

Murphy completed the hat trick at 7:26 of the third, chipping the puck past Williams and extending Bathurst's lead to 5-1.

LINEUP

Game night in Bathurst.

Here's a look at tonight's #SJSeaDogs lineup, brought to you by @CantrburyDental. #AlwaysWearYourMouthguard pic.twitter.com/eCskqZhSMi

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 2, 2018

SCRATCHES
The Sea Dogs were without forwards Yohan Plamondon (upper body), Matt Green (upper body), Landon Quinney (upper body) and Nicholas Deakin-Poot (upper body); and defencemen Brendan O’Reilly (lower body) and Brendan Sibley (flu).

NOTES
These teams have two more meetings remaining this season. Both of those games will take place at Harbour Station. The two meet on Sunday afternoon... goaltender Matthew Williams appeared in his 20th game of the season... solid crowd of 2,515... the Sea Dogs played this game a forward short to begin with, so William Poirier's first period ejection did not help things.

NEXT GAME
The Sea Dogs take on the Victoriaville Tigres tomorrow night at 7 p.m.