Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-2

FINAL: Saint John 6, Moncton 2

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - Jeremie Poirier continues to enjoy playing against the Moncton Wildcats.

Poirier recorded a goal and an assist in a first star performance on Tuesday night at Avenir Centre, helping the Sea Dogs defeat the Wildcats 6-2. The win extended Saint John's road winning streak to five games.

In nine games against Moncton this season, Poirier now has two goals and 12 assists. The d-man had three goals and six assists in eight games against the Wildcats last season.

Saint John got off to a bit of a slow start but seemed to get better as the game went along. Saint John's offense, which had a rough outing at home on Saturday night against Bathurst, scored twice in the second period and three times in the third. Brady Burns had a pair of goals; the top line started clicking again in the second half of the game; and the Dogs netted two power play goals on five chances.

William Villeneuve, Peter Reynolds and Vladislav Kotkov also scored for Saint John. Noah Patenaude rebounded after allowing Moncton's first shot of the game, making 24 stops in the win.

Nicolas Pavan and Connor Richard scored for Moncton. Rookie Vincent Filion, making back-to-back starts, made 31 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Burns - Lawrence - Girouard

Savoie - MacDonald - Bezeau

Hughes - Carruthers - Alchorn

McCallum - DesRoches

Poirier - Villeneuve

Drapeau - Inniss

Patenaude

Emond

SCRATCHES: Forwards Liam Leonard (injured) and Carter McCluskey (healthy) along with defensmen Brandon Casey (healthy), Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arrived).

HURTING: The Wildcats are a hurting team right now. Philippe Daoust, Francesco Iasenza, Vincent Labelle, Sam McKinney and Maxim Barbashev were all listed as injured. Yoan Loshing, meanwhile, took warmups but did not play.

BACK TOGETHER: The Sea Dogs put Brady Burns, Josh Lawrence and Nicholas Girouard back together after a few games of mixing and matching the three throughout the lineup. The trio looked pretty good at times and helped setup two goals. Burns had two goals and Girouard three assists.

GOOD/BAD BREAKS: Saint John had some good breaks in this game while Moncton did not. The Wildcats hit at least three posts/crossbars... so this could have easily been a much tighter game in the third. In the second, Gabriel Bernier found iron and play quickly came back the other way. Peter Reynolds ended up scoring on the rush, putting Saint John in the lead for good.

STREAKS: While Saint John extended its road winning streak to five games, the Wildcats extended their home losing streak to five. 

HUDSON: Speaking of streaks, Wildcats captain Jacob Hudson had his seven-game goal streak come to an end. The streak is tied for the second longest in the league this season. Hudson did record an assist on Moncton's second goal to keep his point streak alive.

SAVOIE: Charles Savoie was injured at 3:45 of the third period when he was pushed hard by Nicolas Pavan, forcing the Dogs forward to crash into the corner boards. Pavan was given a boarding minor for the shove. Savoie left the game appearing to favour his shoulder and did not return.

100: More compliments for Jeremie Poirier.

With tonight's goal @JeremiePoirier4 now has 100 career points in the @QMJHL! @NHLFlames #CofRed pic.twitter.com/l1efdFMSms

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 30, 2021

NOTES: Defenseman Kale McCallum returned after missing Saturday's game with an injury... Noah Patenaude made his first start since March 21 against the Wildcats where he was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period... rookie Simon Hughes appeared in his second game of the season... the attendance was officially 2,149 but the actual people-in-seats number had to be one of the lowest for a Wildcats home game this season.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs visit the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Thursday at 7 p.m.