Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 5, Moncton 2

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - It's been a wild season series between the Saint John Sea Dogs and Moncton Wildcats but on Friday the two teams played a much different style of game.

The two played a fairly uneventful match at Avenir Centre that saw the Sea Dogs earn a 5-2 victory. After a scoreless and evenly played first period, Saint John scored three times in the second and outshot Moncton 16-4.

This was one of Saint John's most complete games of the season. While they didn't exactly have the pedal to floor offensively for the entire game, the team avoided the numerous defensive lapses that have proved costly in previous games against the Wildcats. The Dogs were able to dial down the chaos and play a much calmer game.

Moncton's offense was due to come back down to earth at some point. The Wildcats were missing four regulars due to injury Friday and another because of suspension. The team had three affiliates dressed.

The Wildcats, although they've been playing hard, have now lost four straight games.

Brady Burns scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Riley Bezeau, Leighton Carruthers and Cam MacDonald. Zachary Emond made 18 stops - including a couple of really nice saves to keep momentum going in Saint John's direction.

Jeremie Poirier, who has been killing the 'Cats this year, had three assists.

Dominic Leblanc and Jacob Hudson had Moncton's goals. Dakota Lund-Cornish made 25 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Girouard - Lawrence - Alchorn

Savoie - MacDonald - Bezeau

McCluskey - Carruthers - Burns

Drapeau - Inniss

Poirier - Villeneuve

Casey - DesRoches

Emond

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: Forwards Simon Hughes and Liam Leonard (suspension) along with defensemen Kale McCallum, Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arrived).

HURTING 'CATS: The Wildcats were without Maxim Barbashev, Vincent Labelle, Sam McKinney and Franky Iasenza due to injury while Jacob Stewart served the final game of his two-game suspension. Moncton had callups Thomas Darcy, Gavin Watt and Nathan Casey all dressed for this game. The box score listed 12 Moncton players as rookies.

DEBUT: Carter McCluskey finally made his QMJHL debut on Friday. He got the typical rookie treatment, going for a solo lap around the ice at the start of warmup before being joined by his teammates. A 14th-round pick of the Dogs in 2019, McCluskey recorded one shot in the game.

Carter McCluskey made his @QMJHL debut tonight and was awarded the 🔨! pic.twitter.com/QRwHOYwW9t

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 27, 2021

POWER: A huge thunder and lightning storm passed through Moncton during the first period, causing the power to briefly go out inside Avenir Centre. Fortunately it was more of a flicker and the power immediately came back on, allowing play to quickly resume. Thunder could be heard inside the rink even when music was playing. There was also a small leak in the concourse roof.

POIRIER: With three assists in this game, defenseman Jeremie Poirier now has a goal and 11 assists in eight games against Moncton this season. He has 13 points against the other Maritimes Division teams combined.

ROLLING: The Sea Dogs have a good thing going here. While some wins haven't been pretty, the team is now 6-1-0-0 since the restart and have won three straight games. They've also won four straight road games after failing to win any in the "first half."

FEEL THE BURN: Brady Burns, moved to the fourth line for this game, recorded his second two-goal match of the season. Burns now has eight goals on the year. It surely hasn't been the season the third-year forward had hoped for after scoring 27 goals in 2019-20.

HUDSON STREAK: Jacob Hudson extended his goal streak to six games with a goal late in the third period. Philippe Daoust also extended his assist streak to eight games on the goal.

NOTES: Saint John showed off some depth once again on Friday as the top line was held pointless... Moncton only went 1-for-7 on the power play... Saint John won an incredible 40-of-55 faceoffs in this game... the attendance of 2,293 was the second largest crowd at Avenir Centre (and the entire CHL) this season.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.