Recap: Sea Dogs win 7-1

FINAL: Saint John 7, Halifax 1

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

HALIFAX - For a second straight game, the Saint John Sea Dogs had an offensive explosion.

After scoring just five goals during a three-game losing streak, the Sea Dogs have now scored 15 times in their past two wins, the latest being a 7-1 victory over the Halifax Mooseheads on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Centre.

Josh Lawrence led the way for Saint John, recording two goals and two assists. William Villeneuve also had a pair of goals while singles came from Ryan Francis, Brady Burns and William Dufour. Dufour, Jeremie Poirier and Charlie DesRoches all registered two assists each.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring just 3:47 into the game - a much better start than last Thursday's game in Halifax when they trailed 3-0 less than eight minutes in. Saint John had a bit of shaky opening frame despite leading 2-1, forcing Thomas Couture to make a few huge stops. Couture made 23 saves in the win.

Saint John had much better second and third periods, calming things down defensively and perhaps taking advantage of a Mooseheads team that played the night before.

Evan Boucher scored Halifax's lone. Brady James made 30 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Trenholm - Daoust - Francis

Ansons - MacDonald

Picard - Reynolds - Chantler

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Kuznetsov - Poirier

Drapeau - DesRoches

Despont

Couture

Myatt

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltenders Noah Patenaude (injury) and Nikolas Hurtubise (injury); and forwards Riley Bezeau (injury), Marshall Lessard (injury) and Nicholas Blagden (game six of a 10-game suspension).

BIG NIGHTS: Josh Lawrence tied a career high for points in a game with four, something he has done twice before in his QMJHL career. William Villeneuve, meanwhile, had his first career multi-goal game, scoring twice. Villeneuve hadn't scored since Nov. 30.

D STEPS UP: The Saint John defense core had a strong night of offense with Villeneuve (two goals), Jeremie Poirier (two assists) all Charlie DesRoches (two assists) picking up points. Of note, Paul Boutilier was on Saint John's bench in place of Stefan Legein.

COUTURE: After allowing three goals on six shots last Thursday in Halifax, Thomas Couture has certainly rebounded. The netminder has allowed just five goals over his last three games, going 2-0-1 in that stretch. He was very good in this game - especially in the first period. He made a great save off of a Zachary L'Heureux penalty shot just 44 seconds in.

In case one wasn't enough 🤩#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/eQKpfRnRBW

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) March 2, 2022

NOTES: William Dufour continues to lead the league in goals with 36... Halifax's Jordan Dumais had his point streak come to an end at 16 games... Halifax had a three-game winning streak end... Brady Burns and William Dufour each had five shots... Connor Trenholm took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from the bench in the third period... attendance was limited to 3,000 fans due to Nova Scotia COVID-19 restrictions.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Cape Breton Eagles meet on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.