Playoff Game Day 4: vs Titan

SAINT JOHN - It's essentially a must-win game tonight for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

Saturday's disappointing 4-2 road loss to the Moncton Wildcats dropped the Sea Dogs to 1-2 in the QMJHL's round-robin playoff tournament. A loss tonight to the 2-0 Acadie-Bathurst Titan would drop the Port City squad to 1-3, meaning they would have to win both of their remaining games and hope the Titan lose their final three contests just to force a one-game playoff.

Long story short: a win tonight keeps the Sea Dogs' chances of winning the round-robin significantly higher.

The Sea Dogs lost 7-5 to the Titan in Bathurst on Thursday night.

It'll be a rare Sunday evening contest at TD Station. Game time tonight is 7 p.m.

TV/Radio/Webcast: Rogers TV/93 CFBC/QMJHL Live

Playoff Standings:

1. Bathurst: 2-0-0-0; 4 PTS

2. Saint John: 1-2-0-0; 2 PTS

3. Moncton: 1-2-0-0; 2 PTS

Records: The Sea Dogs finished the regular season with a 15-14-3-1 record for a .515 points percentage (third Maritimes) while the Titan finished with a record of 21-10-1-1 for a .667 points percentage (second Maritimes).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 4-2 loss in Moncton last night. Riley Bezeau and Cam MacDonald scored for Saint John. Zachary Emond made 25 saves in the loss. The Titan are coming off a 5-2 home win over the Moncton Wildcats on Friday. Bennett MacArthur scored twice while singles came from Felix-Antoine Marcotty, Ben Allison and Jaxon Bellamy. Jan Bednar made 29 saves in the win.

2020-21 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs were 5-6-1-0 against the Titan in the regular season while Bathurst went 7-4-0-1 against Saint John.

Last meeting: This past Thursday at the KC Irving Regional Centre where the Sea Dogs fell 7-5 to the Titan. Bennett MacArthur and Jacob Melanson both scored a pair for Bathurst while singles came from Riley Kidney, Felix-Antoine Marcotty and Logan Chisholm. Jeremie Poirier scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Nicholas Girouard, Cam MacDonald and Ryan Francis. Chad Arsenault made 23 stops in the win. Zachary Emond made 23 saves in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Titan: None.

Titan to watch: Riley Kidney had a goal and three assists in Thursday's 7-5 Titan win over the Sea Dogs.

Random stat: The Sea Dogs have only allowed seven power play opportunities over their first three playoff games but have allowed three goals against on those chances. The Wildcats went 1/1 last night.

Notes: Jeremie Poirier leads Saint John in playoff points with five and goals with three... Zachary Alchorn has a team high four assists... Riley Kidney leads Bathurst in playoff scoring with six points and assists with five... Bennett MacArthur leads the Titan in goals with four... Bathurst's power play is running at 50% through two playoff games... this could be Saint John's final home game of this memorable yet kinda-would-like-to-forget-about 2020-21 campaign.

Out of town:

Rouyn-Noranda at Victoriaville - 4:00 PM EDT

Baie-Comeau at Val-d'Or - 7:00 PM EDT

Next game: The Sea Dogs are in Bathurst on Friday night for a 7 p.m. contest.