Game Day 57: vs Olympiques

SAINT JOHN - The West Division leading Gatineau Olympiques make their lone visit of the season to TD Station tonight.

The Olympiques defeated the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-3 on Nov. 17 at Slush Puppie Centre. Both teams have a different look to them since that game.

Both squads head into tonight's match on three-game winning streaks. The Sea Dogs are coming off a three-game Nova Scotia road trip that saw them defeat the Halifax Mooseheads once and the Cape Breton Eagles twice.

Game time this evening is 7 p.m.

Tonight's match kicks off a tough stretch of games for the Sea Dogs. On Saturday they host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan; Sunday the Quebec Remparts come to town; and then next Thursday the team travels to Charlottetown to face the Islanders.

TV/Radio/Webcast: None/93 CFBC/CHL TV

Capacity/Proof of Vaccination/Masks: 100%/None/Not mandatory

Records: The Sea Dogs are 35-17-1-3 for 74 points (third Maritimes/fourth Eastern/fifth QMJHL) while the Olympiques are 31-13-9-2 for 73 points (first West/second Western/sixth QMJHL).

Last games: The Sea Dogs are coming off a 5-1 win in Cape Breton on Saturday afternoon. William Dufour netted a pair of goals while singles came from Josh Lawrence, Ryan Francis and Cam MacDonald. Thomas Couture made 34 saves in the win. The Olympiques are coming off a 4-2 win in Shawinigan on Sunday. Isaac Belliveau, Manix Landry, Mathieu Bizier and Simon Pinard scored for Gatineau. Emerik Despatie made 26 saves in the victory.

2021-22 head-to-head: The Sea Dogs are 0-1-0-0 against the Olympiques this season while Gatineau is 1-0-0-0 against Saint John.

Last meeting: Nov. 17 in Gatineau where the Olympiques edged the Sea Dogs 5-3. Jonah De Simone, Antonin Verreault, Mathieu Bizier, Manix Landry and Samuel Savoie scored for Gatineau. Josh Lawrence netted a pair of goals for Saint John while William Dufour added a single. Remi Poirier made 26 saves in the win. Jonathan Lemieux made 37 saves in the loss.

Ex-Sea Dogs on the Olympiques: None.

Olympiques to watch: Defenseman Tristan Luneau, the first overall pick in the 2020 QMJHL Entry Draft, will play his first game at TD Station. He's posted 11 goals and 24 assists in 51 games this season.

Random stat: This is the Olympiques' first visit to Saint John since Jan. 22, 2020 - a wild 10-6 Sea Dogs win.

Notes: William Dufour leads Saint John in points with 96 and goals with 48... Josh Lawrence has a team high 58 assists... Simon Pinard leads the Olympiques in points with 79, goals with 37 and assists with 42... Gatineau is 16-7-2-1 on the road... Saint John us 17-9-0-2 at home... the Olympiques have suffered a league high nine overtime losses... Saint John is 5-1-0-1 against West Division teams... Gatineau is 5-2-1-0 against Maritimes Division teams... the Sea Dogs have the fourth best power play in the league with a rating of 27.2%... the Olympiques have the third best penalty kill with a rating of 82.8%... Pinard has goals in four straight games... Lawrence has points in 20 straight home games while Dufour has points in 18 straight... Pinard has points in 10 straight road games.

Out of town:

Drummondville at Rouyn-Noranda - 7:00 PM EDT

Shawinigan at Sherbrooke - 7:00 PM EDT

Acadie-Bathurst at Rimouski - 7:30 PM EDT

Next game: The Sea Dogs host the Acadie-Bathurst Titan in a key Maritimes Division showdown on Saturday at 7 p.m.