Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-4 (SO)

FINAL: Saint John 5, Cape Breton 4 (SO)

SYDNEY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs let another lead slip away on Saturday - but this time they managed to pull off the win.

The Sea Dogs let a 3-0 first period lead and a 4-3 third period lead get away from at Centre 200 before ultimately beating the Cape Breton Eagles 5-4 in a shootout. The win comes less than 24 hours after the Sea Dogs blew a 2-0 lead in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Eagles.

Liam Leonard, Alex Drover and Cam MacDonald all scored in the opening frame to put Saint John up 3-0. Felix Lafrance and Nathan Larose scored in the second period and then Lucas Canning connected in the third to tie the game at 3-3.

Christopher Inniss ripped a shot from the top of the circle that beat Eagles goaltender Nicolas Ruccia upstairs at 7:03 of the third, putting Saint John back in front. But the Eagles tied it again at 17:38 when Larose netted his second of the night.

Drover scored the shootout winner in the sixth round.

Daniel Moody made 34 stops in the win while Ruccia made 25 in the loss.

Saint John was outshot for the first time this pre-season, 38-29. For whatever reason, the Sea Dogs have struggled in this building over the past couple years - especially when it comes to holding leads. Cape Breton is expected to be a middle-of-the-division team this season and could be a tough fight for Saint John.

Saint John is now 3-2-0-1 entering the final week of the pre-season.

LINEUP

Leonard - Lawrence - Roy

Girouard - Reynolds - Burns

Stairs - MacDonald - Drover

Vander Voet - Carruthers - Bezeau

DesRoches - Villeneuve

Poirier - Inniss

Drapeau - McCallum

Gartley

Moody

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: Goaltender Creed Jones (quarantine); forwards Charles Savoie and Vladislav Kotkov (not yet arrived); and defensemen Jan Hampl (not yet arrived) and Benjamin Roode. 

CHANGES: The Sea Dogs made only a few changes to Saturday's lineup compared to Friday's. Up front, Nicholas Girouard and Liam Leonard swapped lines. On the backend, Jeremie Poirier moved up to the second pairing with Christopher Inniss while Nathan Drapeau moved down to play with Kale McCallum (who did not play on Friday). In net, as expected, Daniel Moody got the start after Noah Patenaude played the full game less than 24 hours prior.

LAWRENCE: With an assist in this game, Josh Lawrence has points in four of the five pre-season games he has appeared in, totalling a goal and four helpers.

LAROSE: Nathan Larose, a former Sea Dog, recorded two goals and an assist. Alex Drover, a former Eagle who was acquired in exchange for Larose, had a goal, an assist and a shootout marker.

NOTES: This was the final game of the pre-season for the Eagles. They open the regular season on Oct. 2 against Halifax... Leighton Carruthers took a puck to the face late in the second period and went down the tunnel to the dressing room. He returned for the third period... the Eagles pulled goaltender Nicolas Ruccia with 4.2 seconds remaining in the second period with the team heading to a power play. Saint John won the faceoff but couldn't get a shot towards the goal before the buzzer went... Daniel Moody, playing in perhaps his final game with the club if Creed Jones is ready to go on Friday, played a full game for the first time this pre-season... William Villeneuve didn't record a shot on goal in this game, which doesn't happen too often.

REPLAY

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of the pre-season on Friday night at TD Station against the Moncton Wildcats.