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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
That was evident once again on Sunday when the Sea Dogs dug themselves into a 3-0 first period deficit only to climb back and defeat the Moncton Wildcats 6-5 at TD Station. To make things as dramatic as possible, Nicholas Girouard broke a 5-5 tie with just 29 seconds remaining in regulation.
This had the makings early of another "weird game" for the Sea Dogs. Saint John outshot Moncton 16-10 in the opening frame (and 51-29 overall) yet the Wildcats scored three time on their first seven shots of the contest. The Dogs were, as we've seen all year, scrambling defensively.
Saint John came back to tie the game in the second period and then won a back-and-forth third period. Saint John's only lead of the night came when Girouard redirected Jeremie Poirier's point shot past Moncton netminder Dakota Lund-Cornish in the final minute.
Vladislav Kotkov scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Girouard, Zachary Alchorn, Riley Bezeau and Peter Reynolds. Noah Patenaude got the start but was pulled after allowing three goals on eight shots. Zachary Emond made 19 stops in relief.
Francis Langlois, Owen Stammer, Mathis Cloutier, Jacob Hudson and Tristan DeJong scored for Moncton. Lund-Cornish made 45 stops in the loss.
In the first, Yoan Loshing put a big hit on Josh Lawrence that led to Lawrence putting a cross check on Loshing. Later in that same sequence, William Villeneuve was given a four-minute penalty for high sticking. On the ensuing five-on-three power play, Hudson fed Langlois with a cross crease pass who tapped the puck in to make it 1-0.
Just 21 seconds after Stammer made it 2-0, a scramble in the crease resulted in a wide open net for Cloutier to score at 12:20, making it 3-0. Emond replaced Patenaude shortly after.
10 second after Cloutier's goal, Liam Leonard and Jacob Stewart dropped the gloves in a big tilt that had a few bombs land.
Just 35 seconds into the middle frame, Kotkov got Saint John on the board with a power play marker, beating Lund-Cornish with a low wrist shot. At 2:24, Kotkov scored again, firing a shot through some traffic from near the top of the faceoff circle and in, quickly making it a one-goal game.
Alchorn tied things up at 3-3 at 13:39, pushing the puck under Lund-Cornish just enough for it to slowly cross the goal line.
Hudson put Moncton back in front at 2:59 of the third, carrying the puck in and firing what looked like an innocent looking shot on net that beat Emond.
Saint John tied the game again at 7:13. Charlie DesRoches threw the puck in front from along the side boards and found Bezeau who spun and beat Lund-Cornish.
With Kotkov already in the box, Christopher Inniss was called for boarding at 11:55. On the five-on-three advantage, DeJong fired a one time shot from the high slot that beat Emond and put Moncton back in front, 5-4.
Saint John tied things up yet again at 15:01. Reynolds finished off a nice passing play with Kotkov and Poirier to make it 5-5.
With just 29 seconds remaining in regulation, Poirier fired a point shot that was perfectly redirected by Girouard, giving the Dogs a 6-5 advantage.
LINEUP
Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov
Girouard - Savoie - Alchorn
Leonard - MacDonald - Bezeau
Carruthers - Lawrence - Burns
McCallum - DesRoches
Poirier - Villeneuve
Drapeau - Inniss
Patenaude
Emond
SCRATCHES: Forwards Simon Hughes (healthy) and Carter McCluskey (healthy); along with defensemen Hunter Gartley (injured), Jan Hampl (not arrived) and Brendan Casey (healthy).
ROUGH STARTS: This was the second straight game the Sea Dogs allowed three goals in the first period. Obviously that's not ideal even though the team managed to win both contests.
BIG TILT: Liam Leonard and Jacob Stewart dropped the gloves at 12:30 in a very spirited fight. There were some big blows landing as the two fought in front of the Wildcats bench. Both players were given game misconducts for a"staged fight occurring before or following any other face-off."
FIRST: Zachary Alchorn's goal in the second period was his first as a Sea Dog. The Grand Bay native scored his first (and before today, only) QMJHL goal with the Wildcats during the 2018-19 season.
TOP LINE: After being held pointless on Friday in Bathurst, Saint John's top line had a big night.
Vladislav Kotkov: 2 goals, 1 assist, 6 shots
Peter Reynolds: 1 goal, 1 assist, 4 shots
Ryan Francis: 2 assists, 3 shots
STREAK: Jacob Hudson extended his goal scoring streak to four games with his third period marker. The Moncton captain has four goals and six assists in three games against Saint John this month.
SCORING: This Wildcats team can score apparently? Moncton has scored a combined 19 goals over their past three games, which includes putting up seven against the Titan on Saturday.
SHOTS: Saint John's 51 shots on goal was a season high for the Sea Dogs (previous was 50) and ties them with Chicoutimi for the second most in a single game this season. Val-d'Or's 57 on March 1 is the season high.
DOGS VS 'CATS: Really don't know what to make of this Saint John/Moncton season series but... I'm into it and would like more?
NOTES: The Wildcats were without a few notable players due to injury: Maxim Barbashev, Vincent Labelle, Nicolas Pavan and Alexis Daniel... to make matters worse, Yoan Loshing was hit in the face by a puck in the second period... this game matched the latest the Sea Dogs have ever played a regular season game... before the game, Sea Dogs goaltender Noah Patenaude was honoured for participating in this year's World Junior Hockey Championship with Switzerland... Moncton was unable to call a timeout after Nicholas Girouard's goal because they had used it earlier during the five-on-three power play... don't think either team (and perhaps most fans) were enjoying the officiating... the attendance was a season high 1,547.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Wildcats meet again on Friday night at 7 p.m. at Avenir Centre.
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