Recap: Sea Dogs win 9-2

FINAL: Moncton 2, Saint John 9

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs exploited one of the Moncton Wildcats' biggest weaknesses on Friday: second periods.

The Wildcats have struggled mightily in middle frames this season and that was the case again on Friday, allowing five goals - including four on Saint John's first five shots - in the second period in a 9-2 loss to the Sea Dogs at TD Station.

Moncton has now been outscored 47-21 in second periods this year, by far their worst period.

The Sea Dogs were heavily outshot 15-5 in the first frame and found themselves in a 1-1 tie after one. Play didn't seem that lopsided, but Saint John certainly didn't have a great period offensively.

In the second things turned around for Saint John. Brady Burns scored just 1:40 in, accepting a drop pass from Nicholas Girouard and beating Moncton netminder Dakota Lund-Cornish with a long wrist shot.

Josh Lawrence put Saint John up 3-1 at 5:23. 16 seconds later, Charlie DesRoches fired a pass from the boards in front where Girourad redirected the puck in. Burns scored his second at 7:51 and Girouard scored again at 18:36 to put Saint John up 6-1 after two.

The Wildcats scored early in the third but that would be their lone bright spot. Vladislav Kotkov, Burns and Ryan Francis all scored in the period - a frame the Sea Dogs controlled, outshooting the Wildcats 17-7 - to make it a 9-2 final.

Burns finished the night with a hat trick and one assist; Girouard two goals and two assists; Ryan Francis a goal and two assists; DesRoches four assists; and Christopher Inniss three assists. Jeremie Poirier, Lawrence and Kotkov also had goals. Noah Patenaude made 31 saves in the win.

Francis Langlois scored both Moncton tallies. Lund-Cornish made 24 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov

Burns - Lawrence - Girouard

Alchorn - MacDonald - Bezeau

Hughes - Carruthers

Poirier - Villeneuve

Dow - DesRoches

Drapeau - Inniss

McCallum

Patenaude

Emond

SCRATCHES: Forwards Charles Savoie (injured), Liam Leonard (suspension) and Carter McCluskey (healthy) along with defensemen Brandon Casey (healthy), Hunter Gartley (injured) and Jan Hampl (not arrived).

CHANGES: With Liam Leonard receiving a three-game suspension for a high stick in Thursday's game, Zachary Alchorn moved up to the third line to join Cam MacDonald and Riley Bezeau. Simon Hughes was inserted into the lineup up front while Sam Dow returned to the backend - his first game since March 13. Saint John dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen for a second straight game.

STILL HURTING: Moncton regulars Philippe Daoust, Vincent Labelle, Sam McKinney, Maxim Barbashev and Yoan Loshing were all out with injuries. Francesco Iasenza returned to the lineup.

POIRIER: Jeremie Poirier continues to pile up the points against the Wildcats. With a goal in this game, the defenseman now has three goals and 12 assists in 10 games against Moncton this year. 

BURNS STAYS HOT: Brady Burns recored the second hat trick of his QMJHL career on Friday. Burns has been one of the hottest players in the QMJHL over the past week, scoring seven goals over his past three games and nine in his past five.

IN-AND-OUT: Play continued after Vladislav Kotkov's third period goal. The puck, fired from a sharp angle along the goal line, quickly went in-and-out off the top back bar of the net. The goal judge turned his goal light on for a while but play continued for over a minute until a stoppage allowed for a review.

BIG NIGHTS: Nicholas Girouard's four point night was a career high; with four assists, Charlie DesRoches matched his career high for points in a game and set a new career high for assists in a game; and Christopher Inniss' three assists were a career high for both points and assists in a single game.

NOTES: Before the game, Kale McCallum was named the Sea Dogs' student of the month... the attendance was 1,579. It was the biggest announced crowd at TD Station this season... Moncton's Jacob Hudson extended his point streak to nine games... the Sea Dogs were being outshot 10-2 at the time of Hudson's goal in the first period... hits were listed at 26-11 in favour of Moncton, a huge total for the QMJHL these days... Saint John has given up the first goal in four straight games.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Sunday at 3 p.m.