Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-4

FINAL: Bathurst 7, Saint John 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Leads were had and leads were lost on Thursday night at TD Station.

The Saint John Sea Dogs had 3-1 and 4-3 leads evaporate in what resulted in a 7-4 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

In a game with several momentum swings, special teams were the big story. The Titan scored three power play goals on four opportunities - including one at five-on-three. On Wednesday in Moncton, the Sea Dogs gave the Wildcats six power play chances but were able to kill all of those off. 

Saint John went one-for-five on the power play. They had a big opportunity to retake the lead on a man advantage in the third period but failed to record a shot.

The Titan have now won four straight games against the Sea Dogs and have further extended their lead in the race for second place in the Maritimes Division. Bathurst now has a .643 points percentage while Saint John sits third at .552.

The usual suspects had big nights for the Titan with Mathieu Desgagnes and Bennett MacArthur each scoring twice. Cole Huckins, Logan Chisholm and Riley Kidney added singles. Chad Arsenault continued his winning ways against the Sea Dogs, making 22 stops in the victory.

Brady Burns, Zachary Alchorn, Cam MacDonald and Josh Lawrence scored for Saint John. Noah Patenaude made 25 saves in the loss.

Saint John got off to a sluggish start and trailed 1-0 when Burns tied the game at 14:31 of the first period. That kicked off three goals in less than three minutes for Saint John with Alchorn converting on a Titan turnover at 15:11 and then MacDonald tipping a Jeremie Poirier shot in at 17:21.

Desgagnes tied the game with goals at 2:55 and 10:01 of the second period - both on power plays. Saint John pulled ahead once again at 19:10 when Nicholas Girouard found Lawrence down low. But the lead was short lived due to MacArthur tying the game with a snipe at 19:58.

The Sea Dogs got off to a slow start in the third period, failing to record a shot until the 7:48 mark. Bathurst went to another power play at 13:37 and at 14:32 MacArthur beat Patenaude with a one time shot from the bottom of the circle, putting the Titan in front for the first time. Chisholm added an insurance marker, firing a shot from a sharp angle that went off Patenaude's mask and it. Kidney added an empty net goal to make it a 7-4 final.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Burns - Lawrence - Girouard

Alchorn - MacDonald - Bezeau

Leonard - Carruthers

Poirier - DesRoches

Villeneuve - Inniss

Casey - McCallum

Drapeau

Patenaude

Emond

SCRATCHES: Forwards Charles Savoie (injury), Carter McCluskey (healthy) and Simon Hughes (healthy) along with defensemen Sam Dow (suspension), Hunter Gartley (injury) and Jan Hampl (not arrived).

CHANGES: Carter McCluskey came out of Saint John's lineup and was replaced by Liam Leonard who returned from a three-game suspension. Zachary Alchorn moved up to the third line while Leighton Carruthers moved down. Noah Patenaude got the start in net over Zachary Emond.

ROUGH START: Saint John got off to a bad start in this one. Bathurst opened the scoring at 6:26 with shots 5-0 at the time. The Titan hit at least one post in the first half of the period. But things really turned around for Saint John, scoring three goals in under three minutes beginning with Brady Burns' goal at 14:31.

WEIRD GOAL: Bathurst's first goal was a weird one.

🚨: Cole Huckins (13)
🍎: Lane Hinkley
🍏: @Dube_hockey
⏱️: 6:26 pic.twitter.com/Q4WENkIEEN

— Acadie-Bathurst Titan (@ABTitan) April 8, 2021

HUCKINS: Cole Huckins was given credit for the Titan's opening goal. He now has 13 goals on the season - with six of them coming in his past seven games.

THE CELLY: Brady Burns was at it again with his goal celebration in the first period.

🔥GOAL🔥

It's simple. He steals. He scores. He violins.

Burns with some magic and this game is tied. 1-1 pic.twitter.com/A3KJkG1pUV

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 8, 2021

ARSENAULT: It wasn't his best performance of the season, but Titan goaltender Chad Arsenault improved to 6-1 against the Sea Dogs. Overall Arsenault, who is now acting as the No. 2 netminder behind Jan Bednar, has won six straight starts.

DESGAGNES: With two goals and two assists in this game, Mathieu Desgagnes now has an incredible 10 goals and 10 assists in 10 games against Saint John this season.

VS TITAN: The Titan have now won six of their 10 meetings with the Sea Dogs this season. Saint John is 4-5-1-0 against Bathurst and the gap between the two in the standings is beginning to widen. 

NOTES: Felix-Antoine Marcotty, one of Bathurst's leading scorers, remains out of the lineup with an injury... Liam Leonard wore an 'A' for this game... hits were 25-15 in favour of Saint John... Adam McCormick had three assists... 1,417 was the attendance. It was the second smallest home crowd of the season... the Sea Dogs and Titan meet again next Tuesday at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Moncton to take on the Wildcats on Sunday at 4 p.m.