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Saturday, May 1, 2021

Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3 (OT)

FINAL: Saint John 3, Bathurst 4 (OT)
Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
BATHURST - The Saint John Sea Dogs will need some help from their closest rival to keep their playoff hopes alive.

The Sea Dogs fell 4-3 in overtime to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Friday night at the KC Irving Regional Centre. The loss pushes the Sea Dogs to 2-3 in the round-robin playoff tournament while the Titan improve to 3-2.

Bathurst hosts the 2-2 Moncton Wildcats on Saturday. A Titan win would clinch a round-robin tournament victory and a spot in the Maritimes Division final while a Wildcats win would create further drama, setting up a huge game between Moncton and Saint John Sunday night.

In short: the Sea Dogs need a Wildcats win on Saturday to stay alive this post-season.

Jaxon Bellamy scored the overtime winner in what was an emotional rollercoaster of a game. Bellamy scored the winner at 11:10 of the extra frame. The goal came on a power play that was the result of a five-minute major and game misconduct for kneeing handed to Cam MacDonald.

For a while, it looked as though Bellamy might be the exact opposite of a hero in this game. Saint John entered the third period down 3-0 but scored twice to make it 3-2. Bellamy then took a four-minute penalty for checking from behind at 15:12 of the third, setting up Ryan Francis' game-tying goal at 16:56.

It was a hard fought, fairly even game on Friday. Unfortunately for the Sea Dogs, the Titan controlled much of overtime and took advantage of an opportunity - a lengthy power play - they were given. Bathurst is now in the driver's seat of this tournament.

Bellamy, Ben Allison, Bennett MacArthur and Riley Kidney all scored for Bathurst. Jan Bednar made 41 saves in the win.

Francis scored twice for Saint John while Brady Burns added the other. Zachary Emond made 38 saves in the loss.

With 8.8 seconds remaining in the first and the Titan on a power play, a high shot bounced off the glass behind the goal and came back in front. Allison was perfectly placed to bat the puck in, giving Bathurst a 1-0 lead before heading to the dressing room.

There was some great back-and-forth in the second period with both goaltenders making some excellent saves. That includes a huge pad save by Emond while the Dogs were killing a penalty.

The Titan grabbed a 2-0 lead at 11:52. Kale McCallum blew a tire in the neutral zone and MacArthur was able to skate in all alone. The sniper slid the puck five-hole on Emond to double Bathurst's lead.

Bathurst ended the period with another late goal. At 19:22, Francis turned the puck over in his own zone. Kidney converted, beating Emond with a backhand shot to give the Titan a 3-0 advantage.

Saint John had some power play time to work with to start the third period but couldn't get much of anything going. The Titan managed a couple of good chances while shorthanded, entering the zone twice on two-on-ones.

Francis got Saint John on the board at 5:34. A shot that was stopped by Bednar created a scramble in the crease that ended with Francis pushing the puck across the goal line.

Saint John got within one at 14:45. Following a faceoff win in the offensive zone, the puck made its way to Burns in the circle who ripped a shot past Bednar, making it 3-2.

Bellamy was given a four-minute penalty for a check-from-behind on Nicholas Girouard at 15:13. On the ensuing power play, a point shot created a scramble and Francis once again put the puck in, making it a 3-3 game.

At 9:43 of overtime, MacDonald was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a knee-on-knee collision with Mathieu Desgagnes. At 11:10, Bellamy blasted the winner past Emond to make it a 4-3 final.

LINEUP
Francis - Reynolds - Kotkov
Burns - Lawrence - Girouard
Alchorn - MacDonald - Bezeau
Leonard - Carruthers - Savoie

McCallum - DesRoches
Poirier - Villeneuve
Drapeau - Inniss

Emond
Patenaude

SCRATCHES: Forwards Carter McCluskey (healthy) and Simon Hughes (healthy) along with defensemen Hunter Gartley (injured), Brandon Casey (healthy), Sam Dow and Jan Hampl (not arrived).

NO CHANGES: The Sea Dogs went with the same lines and pairings as they did last Sunday. Zachary Emond made his fifth straight start in net.

BEDNAR STARTS: Jan Bednar got the start for the Titan. Chad Arsenault had started the previous two playoff games against Saint John, allowing five goals in a 7-5 win and six goals in a 6-2 loss.

EMOND: This was one Zachary Emond's best game as a Sea Dog, making 38 stops in the loss. He made a few huge stops in a back-and-forth second period to keep the Dogs in the game.
TOSSED AGAIN: In Sunday's game at TD Station, Jacob Melanson was given five and a game for a check to the head on Nathan Drapeau. Melanson was suspended for Wednesday's Titan game in Moncton because of the incident. In the second period of this game, Melanson was given another five-minute major and game misconduct - this time for a board on Charles Savoie.
CLUTCH: Ryan Francis keeps on producing for the Sea Dogs. He scored two third period goals in this game including the game-tying marker at 16:56. Those goals came after his turnover led to Bathurst's third goal. He now has three goals and four assists in five games this post-season.

KNEE: Cam MacDonald was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a knee-on-knee collision with Mathieu Desgagnes in overtime. The Titan captain appeared to be in some significant pain but did play later on in the power play. After the game, he looked to be favouring his leg while celebrating on the ice.
BLOWN LEADS: What's up with the Titan? The team blew this 3-0 third period lead just a couple nights after blowing a late 3-2 lead in Moncton.

OVERTIME: This was the first overtime of the New Brunswick round-robin tournament. This was also Saint John's first playoff overtime game since April 22, 2017, a 3-2 double-overtime loss to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.

THE GOAL: Take a trip to Spain without the S.
NOTES: If you don't think this weird post-season means anything to the players, the Rogers TV shots of Jaxon Bellamy and Jeremie Poirier sitting in the penalty boxes late in the third period would say otherwise... Josh Lawrence had eight shots in this game - seven of which came in the first two periods... with two assists in this game, Poirier now has three goals and four assists this post-season... Bathurst went 49/85 in the faceoff circle... Cam MacDonald had four hits... the attendance was 1,138 - the third biggest crowd of the season at the KC Irving Regional Centre.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play their final game of the round-robin in Moncton on Sunday at 7 p.m.
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