Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4

FINAL: Chicoutimi 5, Saint John 4

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs dug themselves into a first period hole they couldn't dig themselves out of.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring in the first period but allowed the Chicoutimi Sagueneens to score on the following shift. The visitors seemed to grab all momentum from there, scoring two more in the period en route to a 5-4 win over Saint John on Friday night at TD Station.

A night after getting shutout by the Moncton Wildcats and playing without one of their top forwards, the Sagueneens had little trouble generating offense. Even Chicoutimi's power play, ranked last in the league, got in on the scoring.

Saint John has had a bad habit of late of allowing goals quickly after scoring their own. It hurt them in the past and hurt them again in this one. The team played catch up all night and could never get closer than a goal or two.

Felix-Antoine Marcotty, Justin Ducharme, Felix-Antoine Drolet, Rafael Harvey-Pinard and Ethan Crossman scored for Chicoutimi. Daniel Moody made 33 stops in the win.

Charlie DesRoches, Brady Burns, Ben Badalamenti and Maxim Cajkovic scored for Saint John. Zachary Bouthillier made 37 saves in the loss.

The Sea Dogs website has a full game recap.

LINEUP

Here is tonight's lineup for your #SJSeaDogs brought to you by @CantrburyDental #AlwaysWearYourMouthGuard pic.twitter.com/bqRHo67WxL

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

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defenseman Olivier DesRoches (injured); and forwards Alex Drover (injured), Alexis Belisle (healthy), Aidan MacIntosh (healthy) and Jeremie Jacob (healthy).

OUT AGAIN: Top NHL Draft prospect Hendrix Lapierre was out of the Sagueneens lineup on Friday with a concussion he suffered in Thursday's 4-0 loss in Moncton. The forward is out indefinitely.

Confirmé: 3e commotion en 8 mois pour l'attaquant des Sags Hendrix Lapierre. Il sera absent pour une période indéterminée.

— daveainsley (@daveainsley) November 22, 2019

Jakob Pelletier (#Flames prospect) with an open ice check on Hendrix Lapierre (#2020NHLDraft). pic.twitter.com/5TjVlsOoSQ

— Josh Tessler (@JoshTessler_) November 22, 2019

HELLO AGAIN: The Sea Dogs entered the night tied for the fewest home games played in the league with 10. This was Saint John's first home game since Halloween night. They play just three home games in the month of November.

ROUGH START: Despite outshooting the Sagueneens 15-12 in the opening frame, Saint John found themselves down 3-1. The Sea Dogs have scored a league low 16 first period goals this season.

GOAL STREAK: Maxim Cajkovic extended his goal streak to five games with a third period marker. He has been lights out since returning to the lineup, scoring six goals and four assists in six games.

NOTES: It was the first annual "DK Night" in honour of former Sea Dogs equipment manager David 'DK' Kelly... Saint John dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen... Ben Badalamenti missed the final three games of Saint John's road trip last week. He now technically has three goals in his past four games... the game ended with Maxim Cajkovic putting a huge hit on Raphael Harvey-Pinard along the end boards. Cajkovic was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding - and the hit could cost him a game or two.

HIGHLIGHTS


NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Titan in Bathurst on Saturday at 7 p.m.