Recap: Sea Dogs lose 1-0

FINAL: Saint John 0, Rimouski 1

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

RIMOUSKI, Que. - Patrik Hamrla and the Rimouski Oceanic have forced a Game 5.

Hamrla stopped all 40 shots he faced to lead the Oceanic to a 1-0 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs in Game 4 of their opening round playoff series Tuesday night. The result ties the series up at 2-2 and sets up a winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday night at TD Station.

The story of the night was the Rimouski goaltender. Making his first start of the series, Hamrla was fantastic, especially in the second half of the game.

With the Oceanic up 1-0, the Sea Dogs started to press midway through the second period. Late in the frame, Charles Cote was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head on William Villeneuve. The Sea Dogs applied some strong offensive zone pressure during the man advantage but could not connect.

The Sea Dogs came out flying in the third, leading 8-0 in shots at the first commercial break. Saint John generated some quality looks and chances throughout the third, outshooting Rimouski 19-3, but simply could not beat the Oceanic netminder.

Shots in the game ended 40-14 with Saint John registering 23 dangerous shots.

While Hamrla was good, Saint John's offensive attack continued to look a bit off - especially during a shaky opening period that saw William Dumoulin score the game's lone goal. The Sea Dogs had the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's best offense during the regular season.

Thomas Couture made 13 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Lawrence - Dufour

Trenholm - Daoust - Lessard

Ansons - MacDonald - Bezeau

Picard - Reynolds - Blagden

Sevigny - Villeneuve

Kuznetsov - Poirier

Drapeau - DesRoches

Couture

Hurtubise

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Noah Patenaude (injury); defensemen Vincent Despont (healthy), Hunter Gartley (healthy) and Zach Welsh (healthy); and forwards Jacob Chantler (injury), Ryan Francis (sick) and Nico Laforge (healthy). The team listed seven defensemen in their lineup with Welsh - who the team signed as an affiliate player in January - the final scratch.

VIDEO SUBMISSION: According to radio broadcaster John Moore, the Oceanic submitted video of a Vincent Sevigny play from Game 3 in hopes of getting the Sea Dogs captain suspended. No suspension was handed out by the QMJHL and the Oceanic were fined $500 for having their request for discipline rejected.

BIG CALL AND KILL: Charles Cote was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head on William Villeneuve at 15:44 of the second period. Villeneuve was slow to get up but stayed in the game. Rimouski head coach Serge Beausoleil was not happy about the call. The Sea Dogs had some good pressure applied and got some shots off, but couldn't create many terrific chances.

SHUTOUT: This was the first time this season that the Sea Dogs had been shutout. The Sea Dogs averaged a league best 4.51 goals per game during the regular season.

GREAT CHOICE: Gabriel Robert had started the previous three games for Rimouski (and was pretty decent), but the Oceanic coaching staff clearly made a brilliant decision in starting Patrik Hamrla. The netminder had one shutout during the regular season.

RECORD WATCH: The Sea Dogs allowed just 14 shots against in this game, which is tied for second fewest allowed by the franchise in a playoff game. The franchise record is 12.

NOTES: The Oceanic were once again without three regulars due to injuries: forwards Xavier Cormier and Julien Beland along with defenseman Luke Coughlin... Cam MacDonald left the game for a short time in the third after taking a stick to the face... Jeremie Poirier had eight shots while William Dufour had six... Yan Kuznetsov had four hits... Jacob Mathieu had 11 hits (!)... attendance was 2,262.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: Game 5 of this series takes place Thursday night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.