Recap: Sea Dogs win 8-4

FINAL: Saint John 8, Charlottetown 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Saint John Sea Dogs put the hammer down on the Charlottetown Islanders Thursday night at Eastlink Centre.

The Sea Dogs scored three times in the first period en route to an 8-4 victory over the Islanders. Saint John has now won seven straight games - but none were bigger than this one.

Saint John made the most of their scoring chances in the opening half of the game, scoring five times on their first 13 shots and forcing the Islanders to take goaltender Francesco Lapenna out of the game. They led 6-0 at one point in the second period.

The Sea Dogs also did a good job at limiting the scoring chances they allowed, surrendering just 13 shots in the opening 40 minutes. The third period was a bit of a mess for a number of reasons but the game was never in doubt.

Josh Lawrence led the way with two goals and two assists. William Dufour had a goal and two helpers while Brady Burns scored twice. Raivis Ansons, Charlie DesRoches and Philippe Daoust also scored. Thomas Couture, who got the start with Nikolas Hurtubise out with an injury, made 25 stops in the win.

Xavier Simoneau, Patrick Guay, Lukas Cormier and Dawson Stairs all scored for Charlottetown. Lapenna allowed five goals on 13 shots while Oliver Satney allowed a goal on six shots.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Trenholm - Daoust - Francis

Ansons - MacDonald - Bezeau

Picard - Reynolds - Blagden

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Poirier - DesRoches

Drapeau - Kuznetsov

Couture

Myatt

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltenders Nikolas Hurtubise (injured) Noah Patenaude (injury); defensemen Vincent Despont (healthy) and Hunter Gartley (healthy); and forwards Marshall Lessard (injured) and Jacob Chantler (healthy). The Sea Dogs listed seven defensemen on their lineup sheet with Despont the final scratch.

HURTUBISE OUT: Goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise was listed as injured, meaning Thomas Couture got the start in goal. Alex Myatt of the Saint John Vito's was called up to be the team's backup, which has happened on a few previous occasions. If Hurtubise remains out this weekend and Myatt stays with the team, you have to think there is a chance he'll start one of Saint John's games in Cape Breton.

WELCOME BACK: Defenseman Yan Kuznetsov made his return to the Sea Dogs lineup. The big Russian d-man hadn't played since March 9 because of a wrist/hand injury. He made an immediate impact, picking up an assist on Raivis Ansons' first period goal. He also picked up an interference penalty which led to Owen Saye picking up a five-minute major and match penalty for a cross check to the face of Kuznetsov.

HURTING: Just when it looked like the Islanders were getting healthy, things took quite a turn in this game. The Islanders entered the game without Patrick LeBlanc, Ben Boyd and. Drew Elliott due to injuries and then lost Keiran Gallant, Xavier Simoneau and Oscar Plandowski during the match. Jakub Brabenec also gotten shaken up in a collision in the first period but returned. Simoneau was the victim of a knee-on-knee with Cam MacDonald that saw the Sea Dogs forward receive a five-minute major and game misconduct.

STREAKS: The Sea Dogs have now won seven straight games overall and four straight on the road. Josh Lawrence has now scored in five straight games.

DUFOUR: With three points in this game, William Dufour now has 105 on the season, tying Jonathan Huberdeau's franchise record. Dufour will have a chance to break the record this weekend in Cape Breton.

ONE LAST TIME: This was the ninth and final meeting between the Sea Dogs and Islanders in the regular season. Charlottetown won five of the nine meetings. Seven of the nine games were decided by two goals or less, so Thursday's result was certainly an unexpected one.

NOTES: Josh Lawrence is now one assist away from breaking Jonathan Huberdeau's single season assists record of 62... Vincent Sevigny had two assists... former Sea Dog Dawson Stairs had a goal and an assist... nice to see PEI native Charlie DesRoches named second star... Saint John went 2/4 on the power play against the league's best penalty kill... the attendance of 3,044 was a season high in Charlottetown.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Cape Breton to play the Eagles on Saturday at 7 p.m.