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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Sea Dogs allowed the Moncton Wildcats to score four times on their first seven shots of the game in a 5-4 loss. Goaltender Jonathan Lemieux was pulled at the 6:50 mark of the opening frame after allowing three goals on six shots.
Ventsislav Shingarov, called up by the Sea Dogs to replace Noah Patenaude while away with Switzerland's world junior team, allowed the first shot he faced but settled in after that. Shingarov allowed two goals on 23 shots in relief.
Despite trailing 4-1 after one, the Sea Dogs didn't have the worst of opening periods, outshooting the Wildcats 20-13. The Dogs slowly mounted their comeback as the game went along, turning a 5-1 deficit into 5-4 early in the third. Much of that was due to Saint John's power play, which went 3-for-5 against Moncton's struggling penalty kill.
Saint John couldn't get a ton going offensively in the third period. Despite pulling Shingarov in the final minute and applying some offensive zone pressure, the Sea Dogs could not net an equalizer.
William Dufour, Charlie DesRoches, Riley Bezeau and Cam MacDonald scored for Saint John.
Connor Olson had a pair of goals for Moncton while singles came from Nicholas Blagden, Yoan Loshing and Thomas Auger. Thomas Couture made 38 stops in the win.
LINEUP
MacDonald - Lawrence - Dufour
Burns - Francis - Chantler
Picard - Crete - Bezeau
Bowness - Laforge - McCluskey
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).
LAST NORMAL NIGHT: There were no new COVID-19 restrictions in place for this game with the province's mandatory order not beginning until midnight. Attendance was 2,272. TD Station will have a capacity limit of 50% beginning with Saturday's game. Concessions will also be closed along with the pedway. It's difficult to say when things will return to the "normal" we've seen so far this season.
LONG TIME: This was just the second meeting of the regular season between the Sea Dogs and Wildcats. The previous meeting took place Oct. 23 in Saint John. These two are scheduled to meet again on Jan. 2 and Jan. 7 in Moncton.
THIRD JERSEYS: The Sea Dogs unexpectedly sported their black third jerseys for the first time in several years for this game. After this rough outing, it's hard to say when we may see them again.
SWAP: It was a rough night for Jonathan Lemieux - particularly his glove side - who allowed three goals on six shots in just 6:50 of action. Ventsislav Shingarov, recalled from the QJHL's Montreal-Est Rangers with Noah Patenaude away with Switzerland's world junior team, then allowed the first shot he faced. Shingarov, appearing in his first game as a Sea Dog, made 23 stops in relief.
STREAKS: With a goal in the first period, William Dufour extended his points streak to a league best 15 games. It's the longest streak in the QMJHL so far this year. Josh Lawrence, with an assist on the Dufour goal, extended his points streak to 10 games.
NOTES: With William Villeneuve and Vincent Despont both out of the lineup, Hunter Gartley appeared in just his fourth game of the season... William Dufour appeared in his first game since returning from Canada's world junior selection camp... Charlie DesRoches now has four goals in his past five games... Yan Kuznetsov had two assists... Saint John won 40-of-68 faceoffs... Olivier Picard had four hits.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.
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