Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-4 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 5, Moncton 4 (OT)

Photo: Moncton Wildcats

MONCTON - Nothing comes easy for this Saint John Sea Dogs team.

That was evident once again on Saturday night as the Sea Dogs hung on for a 5-4 overtime victory over the Moncton Wildcats at Avenir Centre. Saint John is now 2-0 in this season's "second half."

The Sea Dogs, as was expected, were having a fairly easy time with the Wildcats in the first half of the game, leading 3-0 and 4-1 at times. Saint John outshot Moncton 17-3 in the first period and 28-11 in the first two frames combined. Much of the play, as was expected, looked like a good team facing a team in the early stages of a rebuild.

Then the third period happened. Maxim Barbashev scored his second of the game at 7:57, putting in a rebound at the top of the crease while on a power play. At 11:45, a Saint John turnover led to Jacob Hudson scoring an easy tap in goal. Then at 13:16, Hudson scored again, this one on a power play, to even things up at 4-4.

Shots were an astounding 14-2 in favour of the Wildcats in the third. The Sea Dogs took their foot off the pedal and let the car slide backwards down a hill.

Jeremie Poirier netted the overtime winner at 4:44 of overtime, avoiding what would have been one of the Saint John's ugliest - and strangest - losses of this strange season.

The Sea Dogs clearly still have plenty of work to do and the ghosts of seasons past still seem to be haunting this group.

Vladislav Kotkov scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Peter Reynolds, Charlie DesRoches and Poirier. Noah Patenaude made 21 stops in the win.

Dakota Lund-Cornish made 31 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Burns - Lawrence - Girouard

Leonard - MacDonald - Bezeau

Savoie - Carruthers - Alchorn

Dow - DesRoches

Poirier - Villeneuve

Drapeau - Inniss

Patenaude

Emond

SCRATCHES: Forwards Simon Hughes and Carter McCluskey; and defensemen Brandon Casey; Hunter Gartley, Jan Hampl and Kale McCallum. Saint John went to a lineup of 12 forwards and six defensemen after playing Tuesday's game with 11 and seven. 

AVENIR STREAK: The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Sea Dogs at Avenir Centre. The team hadn't won a road game in Moncton since January of 2019.

KOTKOV: Vladislav Kotkov is simply a man amongst boys on the ice. He's easy to spot given his size. After recording a goal and three assists on Tuesday, the overager netted two goals and added a helper in this game. He also had a game high eight shots.

TOP LINE: It was another big night for the three forwards on Saint John's top line: Kotkov, Ryan Francis and Peter Reynolds. Francis had two assists while Reynolds had a goal. The trio once again looked quite good together.

BARBASHEV: Moncton rookie Maxim Barbashev, the younger brother of former Wildcat Ivan, scored his first and second QMJHL goals in this game. Near the end of warm up, he had a lengthy conversation with fellow Russian Vladislav Kotkov.

OT: Most of overtime was played at four-on-three or four-on-four. Saint John entered the extra frame on a power play and then were awarded two more. Jeremie Poirier's game-winner was scored just nine seconds into a man advantage.

NOTES: Overager Liam Leonard made his "second half" debut after being out of the lineup on Tuesday... Saint John was absolutely dominant on a penalty kill in the first period - but they couldn't maintain it throughout the night... Cam MacDonald dropped the gloves to fight Francesco Iasenza in the second period but the Wildcats rookie did not drop his... Christopher Inniss had four hits... attendance was 2,291.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday at 3 p.m.