Saturday, March 19, 2022

Recap: Sea Dogs win 4-3 (OT)

FINAL: Charlottetown 3, Saint John 4 (OT)
Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs
SAINT JOHN - Vincent Sévigny made his first game as Saint John Sea Dogs captain a memorable one.

The overage defenseman scored 51 seconds into overtime to give the Sea Dogs a dramatic 4-3 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday at TD Station. The victory extended Saint John's winning streak to eight games.

The Sea Dogs trailed 2-0 heading into the third period. Jeremie Porier got Saint John on the board at 5:14 with a blast from the point. Then Philippe Daoust tied the match with a shorthanded goal at 16:38.

Saint John kept the momentum going from the shorthanded goal. At 18:26, Brady Burns beat Francesco Lapenna five hole to give Saint John their first lead of the game. But the Islanders would not go away. With Lapenna pulled, Brett Budgell scored at 19:27 to tie the game at 3-3, ultimately setting up Sévigny's heroics in overtime.
Nikolas Hurtubise made 28 stops in the win while Lapenna stopped 35 shots in the loss.

Patrick Guay and Keiran Gallant also scored for Charlottetown.

Saint John struggled to get through Charlottetown's strong defense for much of the game. A major storyline - especially before the final minutes of the third period - was the Sea Dogs' power play struggles, which went 1-for-6 on the night.

It felt very much like a playoff game with a lot of physical play and a level of intensity on the ice that hadn't been seen at TD Station yet this season. Hopefully there are a lot more games of this caliber to come.

LINEUP
Burns - Lawrence - Dufour
Trenholm - Daoust - Francis
Ansons - MacDonald - Bezeau
Picard - Chantler - Lessard

Poirier - DesRoches
Drapeau - Villeneuve
Sévigny - Despont

Hurtubise
Couture

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); defenseman Yan Kuznetsov (injury); and forwards Nicholas Blagden (healthy) and Peter Reynolds (injury).

HE'S BACK: Forward Marshall Lessard, who hadn't played since Feb. 9 due to a knee injury, made his return to the lineup, playing on the fourth line with Jacob Chantler and Olivier Picard. Lessard saw quite a bit of power play time and assisted on Jeremie Poirier's third period goal.

MISSING: Like last Friday in Charlottetown, the Islanders were missing a few key players from their lineup. Xavier Simoneau, Ben Boyd and Zachary Roy were all out with injuries. 

AFTER TWO: Saint John entered this game with an 0-8-0-2 record when trailing after two periods this season. Charlottetown was 25-1-2-0 when leading after two. That's why the games are played, folks.

SHORTHANDED: The Islanders had allowed just three shorthanded goals all season before Philippe Daoust's goal in the third period, the second fewest in the league. The Sea Dogs have now scored 11 shorthanded goals, tying them for the league lead.
HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Islanders are now 4-3-0-0 against the Sea Dogs this season. The two will meet twice more during the regular season: March 24 and April 14 in Charlottetown.

NEW RULES: For the first time in a couple years, fans could enter and sit in TD Station without a mask. The Ice Bar also reopened for the first time since March 2020. Behind the bench, assistant coach Travis Crickard was the only member of the Sea Dogs coaching staff wearing a mask.
NOTES: Defenseman Yan Kuznetsov missed his third straight game with an injury... the Sea Dogs introduced the team's newly announced leadership group before the starting lineup... former Sea Dogs forward Dawson Stairs had three shots and one hit in the game... Jeremie Poirier's goal was his first since Feb. 27... Josh Lawrence extended his home point streak to 17 games while William Dufour extended his to 15... Lawrence and Dufour each had three assists... Dufour had nine shots... Cam MacDonald had five hits... attendance was 2,973.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Moncton Wildcats Saturday night at 7 p.m.
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