Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-5

FINAL: Charlottetown 6, Saint John 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Opening weekend was a rollercoaster ride of emotions for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

After blowing a 3-0 third period lead on Friday and losing in overtime, the Sea Dogs dug themselves into a hole on Saturday at TD Station, found a way out of it, but ultimately fell 6-5 to the Charlottetown Islanders.

The Islanders led 2-0 after one - despite being outshot 18-13 - and grabbed a 4-0 lead in the second period. Saint John scored in the final few minutes of the second and then netted three goals in the third - which included Josh Lawrence's tying goal at 15:56.

Charlottetown managed to retake the lead at 17:03 with Brett Budgell scoring on a wide open net. The Isles scored an empty netter at 18:35 to make it 6-4. Jeremie Poirier scored with 26 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to one and the Dogs had a decent chance in the dying seconds - but that's as close as they would come to tying things up a second time.

It was a bizarre and disappointing weekend for the Sea Dogs who are clearly still trying to shake some of the bad habits from the past couple seasons. Saint John struggled in both ends and just couldn't get things clicking for any substantial amount of time. Fortunately it's early, but this is not the start anyone hoped to see.

Cédric Desruisseaux scored a hat trick for Charlottetown while singles came from Budgell, Lukas Cormier and Patrick LeBlanc. Cormier, who will have his name heard at this week's NHL Draft, added two assists.

Poirier, Nicholas Girouard, Peter Reynolds, Dawson Stairs and Josh Lawrence scored for Saint John. Lawrence added two assists.

In a battle of former Rimouski Oceanic goaltenders, Colten Ellis bested Creed Jones, making 32 saves in the win. Jones, making his regular season debut, made 29 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Girouard - Lawrence - Roy

Leonard - Reynolds - Stairs

Savoie - MacDonald - Bezeau

Burns - Drover

Drapeau - Inniss

McCallum - DesRoches

Poirier - Villeneuve

Gartley

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Julian Vander Voet, Leighton Carruthers and Vladislav Kotkov (not yet arrived) along with Benjamin Roode and Jan Hampl (not yet arrived).

DEBUT: Defenseman Hunter Gartley made his QMJHL debut. He played sparingly throughout the game as the seventh defensemen.

FIRST PERIOD: The Sea Dogs outshot the Islanders 18-13 in the first period but were behind 2-0. Saint John had some quality chances - Jeremie Poirier hit a post; Nicholas Girouard was stopped on a breakaway; and Peter Reynolds kept the puck on a two-on-one with Charlie DesRoches but was stopped - but the team couldn't find the back of the net. Reynolds and Nathan Drapeau each had three shots in the frame.

FIRST GOALS: Nicholas Girouard scored his first goal as a Sea Dog in the second period, banking a shot off Colten Ellis' skate and in. In the third, Peter Reynolds netted his first in the QMJHL on a power play, finishing off a nice passing play.

HITS: There were a few big hits in this game - including this one in the third period from Riley Bezeau. Bezeau and Christopher Inniss each had three hits.

Beeeezeau. Beep Beep. pic.twitter.com/xrS3TlfR0c

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 4, 2020

YIKES: Bit of a scary moment in the third period when 17-year-old Drew Elliot got the best of 16-year-old Nathan Drapeau in a fight. Elliot ended the tilt with a huge punch to Drapeau's head. That ended both players' night.

ELLIS: Colten Ellis doesn't allow five goals too often. In 29 games last season with Rimouski, Ellis allowed five goals only once and four goals on just four other occasions.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Charlottetown went 3-for-5 on the power play while Saint John went 2-for-5. The Sea Dogs struggled on the penalty kill during this pre-season, so this is a bit concerning.

LOSING SKID: The Sea Dogs ended last season on a four-game losing streak and have dropped the first two games of the 2020-21 season. The wins will come, but this has to be frustrating.

ISLES ISSUES: Saint John has now lost five straight games to the Islanders going back to last season. Their last win over Charlottetown came on Jan. 4, a 4-3 victory at TD Station.

NOTES: Islanders rookie forward Sam Oliver, a Saint John native, did a few solo laps around the ice during warmup before being joined by his teammates... both teams went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen... former Sea Dogs and current Chicago Blackhawks forward Matthew Highmore was in attendance... before player introductions, a video was played that featured several Sea Dogs alumni, Sportsnet personalties and sponsors... Christopher Inniss stood up Keiran Gallant with a big hit at the blue line in the first period... Cam MacDonald recorded an assist on Jeremie Poirier's third period goal, which was his first career QMJHL point... attendance was 1,467.

Here’s what the Saint John crowd setup looks like pic.twitter.com/9dV11cHJ8V

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) October 3, 2020

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Friday night at 7 p.m.