Recap: Sea Dogs lose 2-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Victoriaville 2

VICTORIAVILLE, Que. - The Saint John Sea Dogs ended their three-game road with a frustrating 2-1 loss to the Victoriaville Tigres on Sunday.

Neither team could find the scoreboard for the majority of the game. The Tigres finally broke the ice at 10:14 of the third period when Maxime Pellerin wired a hard wrist shot top corner on Jonathan Lemieux. 

Saint John had a great opportunity to even the game up when they headed to a power play at 13:08. Despite having their top power play unit out for the entire two-minute span and maintaining puck possession in the offensive zone for most of it, the Sea Dogs could not beat Tigres netminder Nathan Darveau or the defenders who blocked numerous shots.

Pellerin scored again at 16:00 after Lemieux lost track of the puck and was caught out of position. The Sea Dogs pressed hard for the rest of the game and William Dufour finally converted at 19:40. But that would be all the Sea Dogs could get.

Saint John, playing their third game in as many days and no doubt feeling some fatigue, struggled to generate scoring chances for much of the game, firing 17 shots on goal through the first 40 minutes. They added 17 more in the third period alone.

Lemieux was excellent in the loss, making 23 stops. He made several huge stops early in the game when things were still scoreless.

The loss ends Saint John's winning streak at six games. They head home having won two of the three games they played on this trek through Quebec.

LINEUP

Reynolds - Lawrence - Dufour

Burns - Francis - Chantler

Picard - MacDonald - Savoie

Crete - Laforge - Bezeau

DesRoches - Villenueve

Poirier - Inniss

Drapeau - Despont

Lemieux

Shingarov

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); forwards Adam Bowness (healthy), Carter McCluskey (healthy) and Evgeny Sapelnikov (Belarus world junior team (Division 1 - Group A)); along with defensemen Hunter Gartley (healthy) and Yan Kuznetsov (not yet cleared to play).

PATENAUDE: Goaltender Noah Patenaude, hurt during the second period of Saturday's game in Sherbrooke, did not dress for this contest. The Sea Dogs recalled Ventsislav Shingarov - acquired for situations like this - to backup Jonathan Lemieux.

STREAK: William Dufour, playing in his final game before departing for Team Canada's world junior camp, extended his point streak to 14 games with his late third period goal. He leaves the team having scored 20 goals and 44 points in 26 games.

NOTES: 10 of Saint John's 34 shots were listed as dangerous... Brady Burns had five shots... the Sea Dogs had a rare rough night in the faceoff circle, winning just 27 of 66 draws... when was the last time a Sea Dogs game went into the third period scoreless?... the Tigres mascot was celebrating his birthday. Several mascots from around the area - including the Phoenix and Voltigeurs mascots - were in attendance.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return home and host the Charlottetown Islanders on Saturday at 7 p.m.