Recap: Sea Dogs win 2-1 (SO)

FINAL: Bathurst 1, Saint John 2 (SO)

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs picked up their first win of the season on Friday night at TD Station.

Joshua Roy scored in regulation time and added the only goal of the shootout to give the Sea Dogs a 2-1 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. Two of Saint John's three games so far this season have needed extra time.

The Sea Dogs fired 50 shots on net in the win but had a hard time beating Titan netminder Chad Arsenault - the last-minute pickup who has been one of the league's best stories. Arsenault has helped the Titan earn points in all three of their games, allowing just four goals on 120 total shots.

Saint John had a number of excellent scoring opportunities that were denied by Arsenault. The Dogs still weren't quite clicking on all cylinders, but this game was definitely the club's best 65-minute performance of the year.

Noah Patenaude made 34 saves in the win. The Sea Dogs are now 1-1-1-0.

Bennett MacArthur scored Bathurst's lone goal.

LINEUP

Girouard - Lawrence - Roy

Burns - Reynolds - Stairs

Leonard - MacDonald - Bezeau

Savoie - Drover - Vander Voet

McCallum - DesRoches

Drapeau - Villeneuve

Poirier - Roode

Patenaude

Jones

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Vladislav Kotkov (not yet arrived) and Leighton Carruthers along with defensemen Jan Hampl (not yet arrived), Christopher Inniss and Hunter Gartley.

STRONG SECONDS: There were quite a few good chances in the second period despite no scoring. Mathieu Desgagnes had a breakaway five minutes into the period but was stopped by the blocker of Noah Patenaude. A minute later, Chad Arsenault made a hug save off Brady Burns at the side of the net. A couple minutes after that, Sam McKinney hit the crossbar - and Cam MacDonald did the same with four minutes remaining.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Joshua Roy's third period goal was the first power play goal the Titan allowed all season (this was just the sixth power play they had allowed in nearly three games).

ARSENAULT: Joshua Roy's third period goal was the first goal Chad Arsenault had allowed since the second period of last Friday's Sea Dogs/Titan game in Bathurst. He shutout the Moncton Wildcats in between. He now has a 1.26 goals against average and a .967 save percentage.

VS TITAN: Saint John is now 1-0-1-0 against Bathurst this season. The two play their third of 12 meetings on Oct. 24 at TD Station.

CLOSE: All three of Saint John's regular season games have been decided by one goal - with two needing extra time. If you include pre-season, five of Saint John's last six games have needed overtime or a shootout.

FIRST WIN: Sea Dogs head coach Greg Gilbert earned his first QMJHL win.

Congratulations to Head Coach Greg Gilbert on his first @QMJHL win! pic.twitter.com/LyV0GdwgEh

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) October 10, 2020

NOTES: Joshua Roy became the first Sea Dog this season to score two goals... the 50 shots on goal was the most the Sea Dogs have recorded in a game this season... Riley Kidney scored with 11:17 remaining in the third period - but the goal was scored by a clear kick. After a quick review, it was ruled no goal... Julian Vander Voet left the game for a short time after being hit from behind in the third period... the attendance was 1,422... a rough third period for the ice crew.

Oops 😬 #skateguards pic.twitter.com/E4yn6ZRzYS

— Craig Eagles (@Eags37) October 10, 2020

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats tomorrow night at 7 p.m. The game, at time of this writing, is expected to be played.