Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Halifax 4

DARTMOUTH, NS - A back-and-forth affair ended on the wrong side for the Saint John Sea Dogs on Thursday.

The Sea Dogs gave up two late third period goals in a 4-3 loss to the Halifax Mooseheads at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth. It was Saint John's first loss of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League pre-season and Halifax's first win.

Saint John led the shot clock by a large margin for most of the night and controlled much of the play. Penalties proved to be very costly though, with the Mooseheads scoring three power play goals on seven opportunities. Many of Saint John's regular d-men did not dress for this game.

Senna Peeters, Halifax's top pick in this year's CHL Import Draft, had a pair of goals while singles came from Gavin Hart and Samuel Dube. Cole McLaren played the entire game in net, making 42 stops in the victory.

William Poirier, Dawson Stairs and Maxim Cajkovic scored for Saint John. Mathias Savoie allowed two goals on 11 shots in the first half of the game. Noah Patenaude allowed two goals on 16 shots in the second half.

The Sea Dogs website has a game recap.

LINEUP

Back in action tonight as we take on the @HFXMooseheads at 7PM at the RBC Centre in Dartmouth! Rosters courtesy of @HFXMooseheads 🙌(the pleasantries end there). pic.twitter.com/AQ2ypRMyDd

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) August 22, 2019

LINES

Cajkovic - Burns - Deakin-Poot
W. Poirier - Stairs - Drover
J. Roy - MacIntosh - Belisle
Gallant - Dumont - Bezeau

McCallum - Villeneuve
McCluskey - Spadafore
St-Pierre - Kakouras

Savoie
Patenaude

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) August 22, 2019

GALLANT UP FRONT: The Sea Dogs dressed seven defensemen and 11 forwards once again on Thursday. Like Tuesday in Bathurst, d-man Carson Gallant was used as a forward.

CHIPPY: This game was chippy throughout and it got going early. Just 6:21 into the game, Joel Bishop was given a major penalty and game misconduct for a board on Kale McCallum. The Sea Dogs d-man would be okay. Elliot St-Pierre and Nicholas Deakin-Poot were regularly involved in the pushing and shoving. Deakin-Poot even got into it with rookie defenseman Cameron Whynot in the third period.

FIRST SHOWING: Swiss goaltender Noah Patenaude made his pre-season debut. He was barely tested in the second period, but dealt with some strong Mooseheads pressure in the third. He allowed two goals on 16 shots overall, but looked very comfortable and quick in net.

NOTES: Defenseman Jason Horvath, acquired in a trade earlier this week by the Mooseheads, played in the game... highly touted 16-year-old defenseman Cameron Whynot, also acquired in a trade recently, appeared in the game... with Whynot and Joshua Roy both playing, two of the league's top nine picks from this summer's Entry Draft were on the ice... Alex Drover made a very nice pass to William Poirier in the first period, allowing Poirier to score on a breakaway... Kale McCallum had two assists... Marcel Barinka had three assists.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Mooseheads on Friday night at St. Stephen's Garcelon Civic Centre. Game time is 7 p.m.