Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-1

FINAL: Saint John 5, Cape Breton 1

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SYDNEY, NS - The Saint John Sea Dogs' power play came up huge on Saturday at Centre 200.

The Sea Dogs scored three times on the power play in a 5-1 road win over the Cape Breton Eagles. On Friday night it was the team's penalty kill that came up huge, killing off eight of nine Eagles power plays in a 3-2 shootout victory.

William Dufour scored a pair of goals, setting a new franchise record for goals in a single season with 48. Josh Lawrence, Ryan Francis, Cam MacDonald also scored for Saint John. Lawrence also posted three assists while Vincent Sevigny had two. Thomas Couture made 34 saves in the win.

Jeremy Langlois scored Cape Breton's lone goal. Remi Delafontaine made 27 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Ansons - Daoust - Francis

Reynolds - MacDonald - Lessard

Bezeau - Trenholm - Blagden

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Poirier - DesRoches

Drapeau - Gartley

Couture

Hurtubise

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); defensemen Yan Kuznetsov (injury) and Vincent Despont (healthy); and forwards Jacob Chantler (injured) and Olivier Picard (serving game one of a three-game suspension). The Sea Dogs listed seven defensemen on their lineup sheet with Despont the final scratch. 

SUSPENDED: Sea Dogs forward Olivier Picard served the first game of a three-game suspension for a "staged fight, accumulation of codes 2.2 (3rd)." Cape Breton's Lucas Canning was suspended two games for taking part in Friday's staged fight.

DUFOUR: William Dufour set a new franchise record for goals in a single season, scoring twice in this game to give him 48 on the year. His first goal broke Remi Delafontaine's water battle while his second was an empty net goal.

William Dufour makes the water bottle fly with his Sea Dogs record-tying 47th goal of the season! 🚨#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/yUQQXqPz9q

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

With two goals this afternoon, William Dufour has passed the record for most goals in a single season by a Sea Dog.

Congratulations William! 👏@NYIslanders pic.twitter.com/ZMgp5w7IQY

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

FRANCIS: Ryan Francis now has goals in back-to-back games and has scored in six of his past eight games. The former Eagles forward also has three goals and two assists in three games against his old club.

Francis scores against his former team for the second straight night and makes it 3-0! #CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/ckBIPWXHQQ

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

NOTES: Jeremie Poirier returned to the Saint John lineup after missing Friday's game... Dufour had seven shots... Nicholas Blagden had three hits... for a second straight game, the Eagles had the edge in the faceoff circle, winning 39 of 69... attendance was 1,510... the Sea Dogs play back-to-back games in Cape Breton again on April 16-17.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Gatineau Olympiques on Wednesday at 7 p.m.