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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Moncton Wildcats scored twice in the second period and hung for a 2-1 win over the Sea Dogs. It was Saint John's fourth straight loss on home ice. The two meet again on Tuesday night in the opening game of the QMJHL's nine-game round-robin tournament featuring the three New Brunswick clubs.
The Sea Dogs were once again without Vladislav Kotkov due to injury and opted to sit several key regulars: Ryan Francis, Nicholas Girouard and Christopher Inniss. As a result, the Sea Dogs played a man short and had a lineup filled with rookies and callups.
Moncton's lineup featured similar constraints due to injuries. The result was a fairly evenly placed game on Saturday, one that was sloppy and choppy at times and didn't feature too many terrific scoring chances.
Josh Lawrence scored Saint John's lone goal. Noah Patenaude made 29 stops in the loss.
Alexis Daniel and Jacob Hudson scored the Wildcats. Vincent Filion made 26 stops in the win.
Daniel opened the scoring just eight seconds into the game. Then at 10:40 of the opening frame, Hudson walked into the slot and ripped a wrist shot that made it 2-0 Wildcats.
Saint John started to turn it on the second half of the second period. Finally, on a power play at 17:43, Lawrence carried the puck in and fired a low wrist shot from the top of the circle that beat Filion, making it 2-1.
LINEUP
Leonard - Lawrence - Alchorn
MacDonald - Reynolds - Burns
Hughes - Carruthers - Bezeau
McCluskey - Burt
Poirier - DesRoches
Drapeau - Villeneuve
McCallum - Dow
Patenaude
Lyonnais
SCRATCHES: Forwards Charles Savoie (injured), Vladislav Kotkov (injured), Ryan Francis (healthy), and Nicholas Girouard (healthy); defensemen Christopher Inniss, Brandon Casey (injured), Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arrived); and goaltender Zachary Emond (injured).
CHANGES: Veterans Ryan Francis and Nicholas Girouard were both given the night off while Zachary Emond sat out with an injury suffered on Friday. Defenseman Christopher Inniss was also a late scratch.
NEW FACES: The Sea Dogs called up forward Kobe Burt along with goaltender Antoine Lyonnais for this game. Lyonnais, 20, appeared in seven games with the Edmundston Blizzard this season (all before the new year) while Burt is a 17-year-old with the Fredericton Red Wings. The Sea Dogs also had former Wildcats forward Kyle Foreman listed in their original line combinations but he did not suit up.
STILL HURTING: The Wildcats were without Anthony Hamel, Sam McKinney, Philippe Daoust, Vincent Labelle, Gabriel Bernier and Yoan Loshing all due to injuries.
QUICK GOAL: Some Wildcats franchise history was made just eight seconds into the game.
As others have noted, Alexis Daniel's goal was the fastest to start a game in Wildcats history. 0:08 in. pic.twitter.com/7uuZEKL8uC
— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 17, 2021
DARCY HIT: Thomas Darcy was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check from behind on Zachary Alchorn 2:02 into the first period. With Sam Dow going off for roughing on the play, Saint John had a three-minute power play - but generated very little on the man advantage. Alchorn left the game briefly but did return.
FINAL NUMBERS: The Sea Dogs finish the regular season with a 15-14-3-1 record for a .515 points percentage. They went 8-5-0-0 against the Wildcats.
NOTES: Before the game, Sea Dogs overagers Zachary Emond, Vladislav Kotkov and Liam Leonard were honoured with video tributes. The three were also named the games's three stars even though Kotkov and Emond did not dress... Cam MacDonald returned after missing a couple games due to injury... officially, Saint John had eight rookie skaters dressed while Moncton had 13. That's not including Vincent Filion... the attendance was 1,566 - the third largest COVID-era crowd at TD Station.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Wildcats meet again on Tuesday night at TD Station in the first game of the nine-game round-robin playoff tournament.
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