Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4

FINAL: Bathurst 5, Saint John 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - A late third period goal pushed the Acadie-Bathurst Titan past the Saint John Sea Dogs on Friday.

Bennett MacArthur scored his 28th goal of the season to lift the Titan to a 5-4 victory over the Sea Dogs at TD Station. It was the 12th and final meeting of the regular season between the two provincial rivals.

MacArthur had a pair of goals in the game while Jacob Melanson, Ben Allison and Adam McCormick added singles. Jan Bednar made 26 stops in the win.

It looked like the game would be a shootout after a seven-goal first period that had the Titan up 4-3. Things settled down in the second period with Saint John controlling much of the play until the late stages of the frame. Nicholas Girouard scored near the midway point of the second to tie things up at 4-4.

Play was fairly even in the third until MacArthur put Bathurst ahead for good at 14:12. The Sea Dogs pulled their goaltender in the final minute but could not get much going in the offensive zone.

Peter Reynolds netted a pair of goals for Saint John while Girouard and William Villeneuve also scored. Zachary Emond left the game in the second period with an apparent injury after allowing four goals on 14 shots. Noah Patenaude allowed a goal on 11 shots the rest of the way.

LINEUP

Girouard - Lawrence - Alchorn

Burns - Reynolds - Francis

Leonard - Carruthers - Bezeau

Hughes - McCluskey

Poirier - DesRoches

Drapeau - Inniss

Dow - Villeneuve

McCallum

Emond

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: Forwards Charles Savoie (injured), Cam MacDonald (injured) and Vladislav Kotkov (injured) along with defensemen Brandon Casey (injured), Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arrived). 

MIA: The Sea Dogs tweeted before the game that Cam McDonald (upper body) and Vladislav Kotkov (lower body) are both day-to-day with injuries. MacDonald did not play on Tuesday in Bathurst while Kotkov did not return after the first period.

CHANGES: The Sea Dogs kept their lineup similar to what was used in the second half of Tuesday's 9-2 win in Bathurst with Peter Reynolds moving up to the second line to replace Vladislav Kotkov. Carter McCluskey returned to the lineup and joined the fourth line.

WILD FIRST: What a first period. The two teams combined for seven goals with Bathurst leading 4-3. Shots were just 14-11 Titan despite the goal fest. One of the reasons for the offense? Penalties. Saint John went 2/3 on the power play and Bathurst 1/2.

REYNOLDS: Peter Reynolds recorded two goals and an assist in this game to give him five goals and three assists over his past two contests. Not bad. 

GOALIE SWAP: Noah Patenaude took over for Zachary Emond 6:10 into the second period presumably because of an injury. Emond never returned to the Sea Dogs bench after leaving the game.

BEDNAR: Chad Arsenault has made most of Bathurst's starts against Saint John but, after being pulled after 40 minutes in Tuesday's game against the Dogs, Jan Bednar got the nod in net. Bednar hadn't started against Saint John since March 19.

FACEOFFS: Saint John had another dominant night in the faceoff circle, winning 41 of 58 draws. Peter Reynolds went 10/13; Ryan Francis 9/11; and Josh Lawrence 14/20.

NO GOALIES: There was a delayed penalty called against Saint John in the final minute of play with their net already empty. Jan Bednar went to the bench, creating quite a bit of time with no goaltenders on the ice. Ryan Francis made a couple of nice saves in the Sea Dogs crease.

SEASON SERIES: The Sea Dogs finish the regular season series against the Titan with a 5-6-1-0 record. It was certainly an eventful and entertaining 12 games.

NOTES: Before the game, Nathan Drapeau was named the Sea Dogs student of the month... also before the game, the Saint John Sea Dogs Foundation presented a virtual/digital check of $1,500 to the President's Choice Children Charity... Bathurst forward Felix-Antoine Marcotty played his first game since March 24 due to an injury... Christopher Inniss played in his 200th career QMJHL hame... Bennett MacArthur extended his goal streak to five games. He's scored seven goals during the span... the attendance was 1,417.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of the regular season tomorrow night at TD Station against the Moncton Wildcats. Game time is 7 p.m.