Recap: Sea Dogs win 4-3

FINAL: Saint John 4, Moncton 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - The Saint John Sea Dogs got off to a good start and survived a third period scare in a 4-3 victory over the Moncton Wildcats on Wednesday at Avenir Centre.

The Sea Dogs, who have had a string of bad starts over the past few games, opened the scoring just 1:23 into the match and made it 2-0 at 3:59. Shots were 6-0 Saint John and forced the Wildcats to take an early timeout to regroup.

It was a respectable road win by the Dogs against a team they've had some difficulties with at times. Penalties were a problem - especially in the third period - but Saint John was able to kill off all six Moncton power plays.

The Sea Dogs entered the third period up 3-0 and led 4-1 at the halfway point. Moncton scored twice in the final six minutes of the game - including one with the net empty - to make things interesting. Saint John was able to clamp down defensively in the final minutes and skate away with a victory.

Nicholas Girouard scored twice for Saint John while Vladislav Kotkov and Ryan Francis also scored. Zachary Emond made 32 stops in the win.

Jacob Stewart, Nicolas Pavan and Connor Richard scored for Moncton. Dakota Lund-Cornish made 29 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Burns - Lawrence - Girouard

Carruthers - MacDonald - Bezeau

McCluskey - Alchorn

Poirier - DesRoches

Villeneuve - Inniss

Casey - McCallum

Drapeau

Emond

Patenaude

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

SWAPS: The Sea Dogs broke up a couple of their mainstay defensive pairings, splitting up Jeremie Poirier/William Villeneuve and Christopher Inniss/Nathan Drapeau. The team went with seven defensemen once again, inserting Brandon Casey back into the lineup.

STILL HURTING: The Wildcats were once again without regulars Alexis Daoust, Vincent Labelle, Sam McKinney and Yoan Loshing due to injury.

GOOD START: The Sea Dogs had given up the game's first goal in five straight contests prior to this one. Saint John scored just 1:22 in and added to their lead at 3:59. Shots were 6-0 Saint John in the opening four minutes of the game.

SECOND PERIOD: Yawn.

KOTKOV: Big game for Vladislav Kotkov who had a goal and two assists. Kotkov now has three three-point games against Moncton this year. He had a lovely assist on Ryan Francis' third period goal which ended up being the game-winner.

NOTES: Liam Leonard served the final game of his three-game suspension while Sam Dow served the first of his two-game ban... Brady Burns had his four-game goal streak come to an end... Cam MacDonald was buzzing at times and had a team high six shots... Nicholas Girouard tied a career high for goals in a game with two (he's done it seven times now)... former Sea Dog Connor Richard, who scored in the third by flying off the bench and into the slot area as the extra attacker, now has three goals and an assist against his old team... Dakota Lund-Cornish somewhat surprisingly got the start for Moncton after playing the night before against Bathurst... the announced attendance was 2,127, the third smallest crowd of the season at Avenir Centre.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow night at 7 p.m.