Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4 (OT)

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

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs let a strong start slip away on Friday.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring just 26 seconds into the game and had one of their best first periods of the season only to struggle in the final 40-plus minutes, ultimately falling 5-4 in overtime to the Cape Breton Eagles at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs have now lost four straight games and are still looking for their first regulation time win. The team's record of 1-3-2-1 places them in the basement of the Maritimes Division due to the Moncton Wildcats winning on Friday.

Saint John grabbed a 2-0 lead early in the second period in what proved to be an entertaining, back-and-forth match for much of the night. The Eagles stormed back with goals from Liam Kidney and Ryan Francis and the teams headed into the third tied 3-3. Shots were 16-7 in favour of the Eagles in the middle frame.

Cape Breton took a 4-3 lead just 2:43 into the third. William Villeneuve's first of the season at 13:46 tied things up again.

Shawn Element gave the Eagles the win, firing a quick one-timer past Noah Patenaude at 1:18 of overtime.

Francis scored two goals for Cape Breton while singles came from Element, Liam Kidney and Francois-James Buteau. Nicolas Ruccia made 24 stops in the win.

Villeneuve, Cam MacDonald, Charles Savoie and Joshua Roy scored for Saint John. Patenaude made 32 stops in the loss.

Some good news: Saint John won't have much time to think about this loss. The two teams meet again tomorrow for a rare 3 p.m. Saturday start.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Roy

Girouard - Reynolds - Stairs

Leonard - MacDonald - Bezeau

Savoie - Carruthers - Drover

McCallum - DesRoches

Poirier - Villeneuve

Drapeau - Inniss

Patenaude

Jones

SCRATCHES: Forwards Julian Vander Voet (healthy) and Vladislav Kotkov (not yet arrived) along with defensemen Hunter Gartley (healthy), Benjamin Roode (healthy) and Jan Hampl (not yet arrived).

MACDONALD'S FIRST: Cam MacDonald scored just 26 seconds into Friday's game. It was the rookie's first career QMJHL goal.

🚨GOAL🚨

Cam MacDonald back in the lineup and scores his #QMJHL first just 26 seconds into the game! 1-0 pic.twitter.com/ys5NjLVZ4I

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 30, 2020

GREAT START: The Sea Dogs had a great opening five minutes to this game - something the team has struggled with all season. Along with MacDonald's goal, the team was buzzing in the offensive zone. Liam Leonard even sped away on a breakaway only to be stopped. Saint John scored first for just the second time this season (the only other time was opening night in Bathurst). The Sea Dogs also led after the opening 20 minutes for just the third time this year.

FRANCIS: Ryan Francis scored quite a goal in the second period, beating Jeremie Poirier one-on-one and then firing a perfectly placed shot past Noah Patenaude.

Highlight of the night goal by @CBEHockey Ryan Francis tonight in Saint John vs @SJSeaDogs. The @NHLFlames prospect now has 3G & 8A in 9 games. #Flames #QMJHL #LHJMQ pic.twitter.com/Vm2gnxdFoZ

— Denis Leblanc (@DenisL_1981) October 31, 2020

WILD SECOND: The teams scored a combined five goals in the second period with Cape Breton outshooting Saint John 16-7. Second periods have been Saint John's worst so far this season, having now been outscored 13-7.

ELEMENT: With an assist on that Francis goal and the overtime winner, Shawn Element has recorded a point in all nine of Cape Breton's games this season. He now has three goals and eight assists on the year.

RUCCIA: Rookie netminder Nicholas Ruccia, a first-round pick of the Eagles, rebounded from a rough loss on Saturday that saw him allow eight goals in 40 minutes of action. He made 24 stops - which included a few key saves throughout. Eagles starter William Grimard is out injured.

EXTRA TIME: The Sea Dogs needed extra time for a fourth time this season - which is a lot given that they've played just seven games. In the pre-season, three of Saint John's seven games needed extra time.

NOTES: Trevor Stienburg, the long-time Saint Mary's Huskies head coach, was in attendance. The Seattle Kraken officially named him one of the team's scouts earlier in the day... Charles Savoie and William Villeneuve both scored their first goals of the season... Joshua Roy has now scored in five of Saint John's seven games... a season-high crowd of 1,486 watched the game.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet again tomorrow at 3 p.m. at TD Station.