Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3

FINAL: Bathurst 4, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - Hendrix Lapierre made his presence felt on Saturday at TD Station.

Lapierre scored twice and added an assist in the third period to help the Acadie-Bathurst Titan defeat the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3.

The Washington Capitals prospect tied the game at 9:42 of the third and then put the Titan in front 3-2 with a power play marker at 18:27. Just 24 seconds later, Josh Lawrence put in a rebound to even things back up at 3-3.

At 19:09, Bennett MacArthur put in the rebound of a Cole Larkin shot to once again put Bathurst in front. Lapierre was given the second assist on the goal.

Saint John was unable to tie things back up, suffering a frustrating loss on home ice for a second straight night. The Sea Dogs outshot the Titan 44-40 in the game - including 23-10 in the second period alone - and played most of the night a defender or two short, losing Christopher Inniss to ejection in the first period and Charlie DesRoches to injury in the second.

The Sea Dogs close out the "first half" with a 15-12-0-3 record for 33 points. The team's lineup will likely look different when they return from the holiday break.

Jacob Melanson also scored for the Titan on Saturday. Chad Arsenault made 41 stops in the win.

Lawrence, William Dufour and Nathan Drapeau scored for Saint John. Jonathan Lemieux made 36 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

McCluskey - MacDonald - Francis

Picard - Chantler - Bezeau

Bowness - Laforge - Crete

Kuznetsov - DesRoches

Poirier - Inniss

Drapeau - Gartley

Lemieux

Shingarov

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (Team Switzerland world junior camp); forwards Peter Reynolds (injury), Charles Savoie (injury) and Evgeny Sapelnikov (Team Belarus national junior team); and defensemen Vincent Despont (Team Switzerland world junior camp) and William Villeneuve (injury).

CAPACITY: With the province's new mandatory order in place, capacity at TD Station was capped at 50%. Attendance was announced as 1,874 although the actual attendance appeared to be significantly lower. It was first come first serve seating with social distancing rules back in place.

TOSSED: Christopher Inniss was given a match penalty and five-minute major for a high stick at 7:48 of the opening frame. The Sea Dogs were able to kill off the penalty - although the Titan did have a goal called off for a high stick with three seconds remaining in the man advantage. The ejection forced the Dogs to play with five defensemen the rest of the game - and then down to four in the second period when Charlie DesRoches left with an injury.

SHORTY: The Sea Dogs allowed a shorthanded goal for the first time this season at 19:31 of the opening frame. They are the last QMJHL team to give up a shorthanded marker this season. The goal did come on a delayed penalty, though.

STREAKS: William Dufour extended his points streak to 16 games with his 22nd goal of the season in the second period. Josh Lawrence also extended his point streak to 11 games with a goal in the third.

Blink and you'll miss it 👀A quick shot from Dufour ties the game up! 🚨#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/NdlbguCApR

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) December 19, 2021

SHOTS: Saint John outshot Bathurst 23-10 in the middle frame. The 23 shots is the second most shots on goal any team has had in a second period so far this season. Rimouski had 24 shots in a second period on Oct. 30.

STANDINGS: The Sea Dogs enter the holiday break with a record of 15-12-0-3 for 33 points, placing them seventh in the Eastern Conference and 11th overall in the league. They've got some work to do in the second half and they'll very likely be getting some reinforcements soon.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs sported their black third jerseys for a second straight game... Titan goaltender Chad Arsenault was called for interference on Josh Lawrence in the second period... Nathan Drapeau scored his second goal of the season... after a rough outing on Friday that saw him allow three goals on six shots, Jonathan Lemieux made 36 saves in this contest... Jeremie Poirier and Ryan Francis both had two assists... Yan Kuznetsov, who played a ton in this game, had three hits... Saint John won an impressive 42-of-67 faceoffs. 

HIGHLIGHTS

TOMORROW: The QMJHL's trading period opens and will run until Jan. 6.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are scheduled to return from the Christmas break for a Dec. 28 meeting with the Cape Breton Eagles at TD Station.