Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-5

FINAL: Bathurst 7, Saint John 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

BATHURST - The Saint John Sea Dogs' power play couldn't come through on Thursday night.

The Sea Dogs went 1-for-5 on the man advantage and allowed a shorthanded goal in a 7-5 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in QMJHL round-robin playoff action at the KC Irving Regional Centre. The Sea Dogs and Titan are now tied at the top of the standings with two points each.

Saint John's power play woes were a major storyline in this one. The team struggled to generate quality scoring chances - especially during a five-on-three advantage that lasted for 1:25 in the third period when the Dogs were trailing 6-4. Riley Kidney scored not long after play returned to even strength to make it 7-4 with 6:19 remaining in the period.

Even with Vladislav Kotkov back in the lineup, the Sea Dogs fired just 15 shots in the first two periods combined despite some power play time.

On the other side, Bathurst went 1-for-2 on the power play and scored a shorthanded marker. Bennett MacArthur and Jacob Melanson - who was celebrating his birthday - both scored a pair while singles came from Kidney, Felix-Antoine Marcotty and Logan Chisholm. Chad Arsenault made 23 stops in the win.

Jeremie Poirier scored twice for Saint John while singles came from Nicholas Girouard, Cam MacDonald and Ryan Francis. Zachary Emond made 23 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Girouard - Lawrence - Francis

Burns - Reynolds - Kotkov

Alchorn - MacDonald - Bezeau

McCluskey - Carruthers

Dow - Villeneuve

Drapeau - Inniss

McCallum - Poirier

Casey

Emond

Patenaude

SCRATCHES: Forwards Charles Savoie (injured), Simon Hughes (healthy) and Liam Leonard (suspension) along with defensemen Charlie DesRoches (injury), Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arriving).

CHANGES: Vladislav Kotkov returned to the Sea Dogs lineup after missing the past three games with an injury. Simon Hughes came out up front while Kale McCallum replaced Charlie DesRoches on the backend.

SUSPENSION: The QMJHL announced Tuesday afternoon that overage forward Liam Leonard had been suspended "for failing to follow the league's COVID-19 protocols," stated a press release. "Therefore, he will miss tonight's game against the Acadie-Bathurst Titan. The safety of players and staffs is unaffected and thus, tonight’s playoff game will be held as scheduled." Leonard, who was also scratched on Tuesday, reportedly made a visit to his former billet family's home in Bathurst, which is against league protocols.

SHORTHANDED PROBS: Saint John allowed seven shorthanded goals in the regular season - the second most in the league. Those problems carried over into the playoffs on Thursday when Felix-Antoine Marcotty scored while down a man at 10:38 of the first.

POIRIER: Jeremie Poirier is off to a hot start in his first career post-season. After recording a goal and an assist in Tuesday's contest, the d-man had two goals on five shots in this game.

NOTES: Saint John was officially the home team for this game... lots of hits again. Hits ended 28-24 in favour of Bathurst... there was some rough stuff after Ryan Francis' goal late in the third. Francis, Nicholas Girouard, Jaxon Bellamy and David Doucet were all given misconduct penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct... Christopher Inniss and Cam MacDonald each had four hits... the attendance was 1,029... the Titan host the Moncton Wildcats on Friday night.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their third game of this round-robin tournament on Saturday night in Moncton.