Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-2

FINAL: Cape Breton 7, Saint John 2

SAINT JOHN - Egor Sokolov made his presence felt in the Cape Breton Eagles lineup on Wednesday night at TD Station.

Playing in his first game back from helping Russia win a silver medal at the World Junior Hockey Championship, Sokolov recorded a hat trick and an assist in a 7-2 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Eagles had little trouble with the Sea Dogs on this night, scoring four goals on their first nine shots in the first period to chase Zachary Bouthillier from the net. Saint John didn't play all that bad - they simply got beat by a superior team that loaded up during the trade period.

Adam McCormick also had a big night for the Eagles, recording a goal and and two assists. Ivan Ivan, Nathan Larose and Shawn Element scored as well. Kevin Mandolese made x saves in the win.

Josh Lawrence and Dawson Stairs scored for Saint John. Noah Patenaude made 23 saves in relief of Bouthillier.

The Eagles, who have now won six straight games, host the Sea Dogs on Friday night.

The Sea Dogs website has a full game recap.

LINEUP

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forward Ben Badalamenti (lower body) and defenseman Brendan Sibley (healthy).

WELCOME BACK: Maxim Cajkovic returned to the Sea Dogs lineup after missing the past few weeks while playing with Slovakia at the world juniors. The forward took a puck to the face early in the first period but did return.

STAYING HOT: Josh Lawrence extended his goal scoring streak to three games. He has four goals over that stretch. His first period goal was unassisted, but Brady Burns made a nice play along the boards to force a turnover.

ROUGH OUTING: Zachary Bouthillier was pulled at 15:26 of the first period after giving up four goals on nine shots. It was the first time Bouthillier had been pulled since Nov. 14 in Val-d'Or. Noah Patenaude made 23 saves in relief - including a couple of big stops in the third period.

EX-DOG: Former Sea Dogs defenseman Nathan Larose recorded a goal on Wednesday. He now has a goal and two assists in four games against his old club this season. He had two goals and three assists in four games last season.

NOTES: This was Cape Breton's first visit of the season to TD Station... Aiden MacIntosh remained in the Sea Dogs lineup and was on the fourth line... Saint John went 0/4 on the power play... light crowd of 2,466 on a stormy Wednesday night. It was the third smallest crowd of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS


NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet again on Friday night at Centre 200.