Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 4, Halifax 5 (OT)

HALIFAX - The Saint John Sea Dogs' penalty kill woes proved costly on Friday night.

The Halifax Mooseheads scored three times on the man advantage - including the overtime winner - in a 5-4 victory over the Sea Dogs at Scotiabank Centre.

Saint John entered the game with the league's worst penalty kill (66.7%) amongst active QMJHL teams and it had another rough night, allowing the Moose to score three times on seven opportunities. This comes after allowing two power play goals on Friday.

On the flip side, Saint John's power play had a great night, scoring on three of four chances. The Sea Dogs' offense had a decent night, particularly in the second period when the team scored four times on 14 shots. The Dogs were also quite a bit more physical than what we've seen of late (although it did cost them penalties a couple of times).

The Dogs let a two-goal lead slip away in the third period, a frame that saw Halifax outshoot Saint John 15-6. It was the same story we've seen all year: the Sea Dogs just can't quite put a 60-minute performance together that doesn't have costly missteps.

Saint John now sits at 2-5-3-1 on the year. They have lost three straight games and remain winless on the road.

Halifax had goals from Bobby Orr, Elliot Desnoyers, Jordan Dumais, Brendan Tomilson and Jason Horvath. Alexis Gravel made 30 stops in the win.

Saint John goals came from Brady Burns, Cam MacDonald, Jeremie Poirier and Peter Reynolds. Noah Patenaude made 31 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Leonard - MacDonald - Bezeau

Girouard - Reynolds - Roy

Savoie - Lawrence - Burns

Stairs - Carruthers - Drover

McCallum - DesRoches

Drapeau - Inniss

Poirier - Villeneuve

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).

GRAVEL: Overage netminder Alexis Gravel made his first start of the season after rejoining the Mooseheads a few weeks ago. Gravel looked okay, making 30 stops in the win. Rookie Brady James, who started for the night prior, was backup.

ANOTHER CLOSE ONE: Of Saint John's 11 games this season, seven have been decided by one goal.  This was the fifth time the Sea Dogs have gone to extra time and the club has lost four of those contests.

STAYING HOT: With a goal and two assists in this game, Elliot Desnoyers now has five goals and a pair of assists over his past two games. His shorthanded goal was quite nice.

Make it 5 goals in 2 games and hello highlight of the night@ElliotDesnoyers (11) SH 5:13 2nd period
Assist - Orr #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/UTpAZkElfY

— Halifax Mooseheads (@HFXMooseheads) November 8, 2020

SHORTHANDED GOALS: Shorties are becoming a problem for Saint John. The team has now allowed four shorthanded goals against in just 11 games, the most in the league.

ROAD WOES: The Sea Dogs are now 0-3-2-1 on the road this season and have been outscored 26-16. The good news is that Saint John will play their next three games at home.

NOTES: Peter Reynolds had a goal and an assist... William Villeneuve had two assists... the attendance was 1,900... the Sea Dogs and Mooseheads meet again next Saturday at TD Station.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs will host the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday night at 7 p.m.