Recap: Sea Dogs win 3-2 (SO)

FINAL: Saint John 3, Cape Breton 2 (SO)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SYDNEY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs needed a shootout to defeat the Cape Breton Eagles on Friday at Centre 200.

Philippe Daoust and William Dufour scored in the shootout while Nikolas Hurtubise stopped both shots he faced to secure the Sea Dogs victory.

Charlie DesRoches and Ryan Francis scored for Saint John in regulation time. Hurtubise made 31 saves in the win.

Despite sitting at opposite ends of the standings, it was a fairly even game between the Sea Dogs and Eagles. The big story was Saint John's penalty kill which had an extremely busy - and fairly successful - night, killing off eight of Cape Breton's nine power plays.

The two teams meet again tomorrow afternoon at Centre 200.

Former Sea Dogs forward Nicholas Girouard scored both Cape Breton goals. Remi Delafontaine made 36 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Ansons - Daoust - Francis

Reynolds - MacDonald - Lessard

Picard - Trenholm - Bezeau

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Drapeau - DesRoches

Gartley - Despont

Hurtubise

Couture

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); defensemen Yan Kuznetsov (injury) and Jeremie Poirier (injured or sick); and forwards Nicholas Blagden (healthy) and Jacob Chantler (injured). The Sea Dogs listed 13 forwards on their lineup sheet with Blagden the final scratch.

POIRIER: Jeremie Poirier had his team record consecutive game streak come to an end. Before missing this game, Poirier had appeared in 197 consecutive games, playing in every Sea Dogs game since Nov. 21, 2018.

pic.twitter.com/s801ZFlNuf

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 1, 2022

LONG TIME COMING: This was Saint John's first visit to Sydney this season and the first time the team has travelled to the city since Nov. 18, 2020.

FORMER FRIENDS: Former Eagles forwards Ryan Francis and Connor Trenholm were honoured during the first period. This was Francis' first game back to Cape Breton despite being traded way back during the 2020-21 season. According to Eagles play-by-play man Pat McNeil, it had been 498 days since Francis played at Centre 200.

SHORTHANDED: The Sea Dogs scored shorthanded again in the first period, this time on a goal from Charlie DesRoches. The team continues to lead the league in shorthanded goals with 15.

A short-handed goal from DesRoches gives us the lead! #CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/kS6x9dfbYC

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 1, 2022

GIROUARD: Nicholas Girouard had a big night against his former club, scoring twice. He now has three goals and two assists in four games against Saint John this season.

NOTES: Forwards Peter Reynolds and Cam MacDonald both returned to the Saint John lineup... Hunter Gartley drew in for a second straight game on the backend... Olivier Picard and Lucas Canning had a short fight in the first period. Both were given game misconducts for a staged fight, forcing both teams to play a forward short the rest of the way... Eagles goaltender Nicolas Ruccia missed this game with a lower body injury... William Dufour had his 15-game point streak come to an end... Saint John had a rare off-night in the faceoff circle, winning just 28 of 69 draws... Cam MacDonald had seven shots... attendance was 1,850.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet again tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Centre 200.