Recap: Sea Dogs lose 3-2 (OT)

FINAL: Moncton 3, Saint John 2 (OT)

Photo: Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The pre-season did not end well for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs looked sloppy and unorganized in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Moncton Wildcats at TD Station on Friday night. It was the final exhibition game for both clubs with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season scheduled to begin next Friday.

This was Saint John's worst performance of the pre-season - which is definitely not how you want to end things. The Sea Dogs couldn't keep things together on the backend, committing a lot of turnovers. On offense, Saint John was unable to generate any of the sustained pressure we've seen at times throughout the past month.

The only real positive may have been in net. Creed Jones, fresh off his two-week quarantine, looked very good, putting in the best overall goaltending performance of any Dogs netminder so far.

The rebuilding Wildcats, who did not dress Gabriel Fortier, outshot the Sea Dogs 39-23, including 20-10 in the second period. It was not a good night for Saint John.

Domenic Leblanc scored two goals for Moncton while Jacob Hudson netted the overtime winner. Dakota Lund-Cornish made 21 stops in the win.

Jeremie Poirier and Brady Burns scored for Saint John. Jones made 36 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Girouard - Lawrence - Roy

Burns - Reynolds - Leonard

Stairs - Carruthers - Drover

Vander Voet - Savoie - Bezeau

Poirier - Inniss

DesRoches - Villeneuve

McCallum - Roode

Drapeau

Jones

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Cam MacDonald and Vladislav Kotkov (not yet arrived); and defensemen Hunter Gartley and Jan Hampl (not yet arrived).

SHORTY: Jeremie Poirier's first period goal was Saint John's first shorthanded marker of the pre-season. Leighton Carruthers recorded the assist - a long pass he made while wearing just one glove.

🚨GOAL🚨

Leighton Carruthers with the one gloved assist and Poirier snipes it home for the short handed goal. All tied at 1-1. pic.twitter.com/zPpJBseR8C

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 25, 2020

JONES: The Wildcats scored on their first shot of the game, continuing the odd trend of Saint John goalies allowing goals on the first few shots they face in their pre-season debut. The early goal didn't seem to rattle Jones too much as he got better and better as the game went on. He definitely didn't look too rusty - which is a great sign with the regular season beginning next week.

HOLY WHAT?!?! CREED JONES! pic.twitter.com/li1h3o0atR

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 26, 2020

ROUGH SHIFT: In the third, Jeremie Poirier and Alex Drover were both injured on the same shift - but fortunately both returned after a short time away from the bench. Poirier seemed to be favouring his right leg and took a few spins on the ice before taking a regular shift.

EXTRA TIME: This was the third straight extra time game for the Sea Dogs. Both of Saint John's games in Cape Breton last weekend went to shootouts.

RICHARD: Connor Richard played his first game against his former team on Friday. The Quispamsis native recorded no shots and took a high sticking penalty in the second period.

RECORD: The loss means the Sea Dogs will finish the pre-season with a 3-2-1-1 record. They outscored opponents 28-26.

NOTES: The 50-50 ticket tables were setup for this game, featuring some newly installed plexiglass. Some of the concessions - which were still all closed - had some plexiglass hanging on them as well... the 50-50 winner took home $553... Cam MacDonald, who is tied with Charlie DesRoches for the team pre-season goal scoring lead with four, did not play... Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain was in attendance... William Villeneuve, Jeremie Poirier and Charlie DesRoches each wore an 'A' on their jerseys... Charles Savoie returned to the Saint John lineup after not playing in either of last weekend's games in Cape Breton.

REPLAY

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs begin the regular season next Friday at 7 p.m. in Bathurst.