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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
Alexander Gaudio scored just 30 seconds into overtime to give the Rimouski Oceanic a 4-3 victory on Thursday at TD Station, completing a stunning 3-2 first round series win over the Memorial Cup hosts. The victory pushes the Oceanic into the second round where they'll face the top-seeded Quebec Remparts.
This do-or-die Game 5 was simply a mess for the Sea Dogs right from the start. They struggled defensively, allowing quite a few odd man rushes and were burned by the speed of the Oceanic a number of times. On offense, like much of this series, Saint John just couldn't get things going. Rimouski, once again, did a good job at clogging up the neutral zone and getting sticks in shooting lanes.
The Oceanic, who played the underdog role to perfection, were certainly worthy of this series win. Rimouski also completed this upset missing three regulars - including their leading scorer. Impressive stuff.
Along with Gaudio, William Dumoulin scored a pair of goals while Mathis Gauthier added a single. Patrik Hamrla, who looked more human in this game compared to Tuesday, made 26 saves in the win.
Ryan Francis, Cam MacDonald and Riley Bezeau scored for Saint John. Thomas Couture was pulled early in the first period after allowing two goals on four shots. Nikolas Hurtubise was terrific in relief, allowing two goals on 23 shots.
Along with Gaudio, William Dumoulin scored a pair of goals while Mathis Gauthier added a single. Patrik Hamrla, who looked more human in this game compared to Tuesday, made 26 saves in the win.
Ryan Francis, Cam MacDonald and Riley Bezeau scored for Saint John. Thomas Couture was pulled early in the first period after allowing two goals on four shots. Nikolas Hurtubise was terrific in relief, allowing two goals on 23 shots.
Despite the loss, the season will continue for the Sea Dogs - but they'll have to wait over a month until their next game. The Sea Dogs are back in action on June 20 when they host the OHL champion in the Memorial Cup opener.
The Sea Dogs couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Dumoulin scored just 1:54 into the game and then sped his way to a second goal - this time while shorthanded - at 6:50 to make it 2-0. That ended the night for Couture.
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), Nicholas Blagden (healthy) and Nico Laforge (healthy).
The Sea Dogs couldn't have gotten off to a worse start. Dumoulin scored just 1:54 into the game and then sped his way to a second goal - this time while shorthanded - at 6:50 to make it 2-0. That ended the night for Couture.
Saint John continued to struggle until Francis got the team on the board with a power play goal at 10:24, ripping a shot from the circle past Hamrla. The goal energized the Sea Dogs who had a much better finish to the period, including quality scoring chances for Connor Trenholm and William Dufour.
That energized Sea Dogs team didn't show up in the second period. It was all Rimouski early on with shots 8-1. Hurtubise was Saint John's best player for much of the period with the Dogs getting outshot 14-7.
Despite the struggles in the middle frame, MacDonald evened things up at 13:32, scoring off a scrambly play in the crease to make it a 2-2 game heading into the third.
Just 1:19 in, Bezeau sped down the wing and cut in, firing a perfect shot over the glove of Hamrla to give the Sea Dogs their first lead of the game.
The Oceanic, staying on brand, did not go away. At 12:42, Gauthier scored to tie things up at 3-3.
Dufour had a good chance to put Saint John back in front with 5:51 remaining, firing a backhand shot in close off the iron. Then with 1:50 remaining, Mael St-Denis had a breakaway but was stopped by the blocker of Hurtubise.
In overtime, it took just 30 seconds for Gaudio to jam the puck past Hurtubise and push the Oceanic into the second round.
Rimouski with the huge Round 1 upset over the Memorial Cup hosting Sea Dogs. That means if the Mooseheads win tomorrow night, they would face Charlottetown in Round 2. #GoMooseGo pic.twitter.com/L7mOp5uNEw
— Scott MacIntosh (@scottmacintosh4) May 13, 2022
LINEUP
Burns - Lawrence - Dufour
Trenholm - Daoust - Francis
Ansons - MacDonald - Bezeau
Picard - Reynolds - Lessard
Sevigny - Villeneuve
Kuznetsov - Poirier
Drapeau - DesRoches
Couture
Hurtubise
BAD START: It was simply a bad, bad start for Saint John. William Dumoulin opened the scoring on a two-on-none at 1:54 and then used his speed again to score a shorthanded breakaway at 6:50 to give the Oceanic a quick 2-0 advantage. The Sea Dogs didn't record their second shot on goal until there was 10:14 remaining in the first. The nerves seemed high for this high stakes game.
GOALIE SWAP: Thomas Couture was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots, both of which came on odd man rushes. Nikolas Hurtubise came on in relief, making his first appearance of the playoffs. His last game action was on April 29. Hurtubise allowed two goals on 23 shots in relief, keeping the Sea Dogs in the game at times. The netminder was visibly upset after the game.
Loud ovation for Hurtubise, who was clearly quite upset. pic.twitter.com/MXYQSLRWmp
— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) May 13, 2022
GOOD FINISH: The opening frame ended much better for the Sea Dogs. After Ryan Francis - the lone Sea Dog who did not face Patrik Hamrla on Tuesday - got the Sea Dogs on the board at 10:24, Saint John started to settle in and get things going. Connor Trenholm and William Dufour both had great chances to tie things up. Shots ended 10-6 in favour of Saint John.
RYAN FRANCIS TOP 🧀#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/keL3gJJV0S
— x - Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) May 12, 2022
TOUGH SECOND: Despite scoring the lone goal of the second, the middle frame was far from a work of art for the Sea Dogs. Hurtubise was by far Saint John's best player in the period, keeping the team within one before MacDonald scored. The Dogs took a number of icings early in the period and looked disorganized at times. Shots were 14-7 in favour of the Oceanic in the second.
BEZEAU: Riley Bezeau seems to enjoy playoff games. With a goal in this game, and including last season's provincial playoff tournament thing, Bezeau now has four goals and nine points in 11 career post-season games.
RILEY BEZEAU 3-2 SEA DOGS #CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/WEu9yqDZ0Y
— x - Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) May 12, 2022
DUMOULIN: There weren't a lot of offensive standouts on the Oceanic in this series, but William Dumoulin and his wheels were certainly one. The speedy Dumoulin recorded two goals in this game and finished the series with three goals and a helper.
NOTES: Ryan Francis returned to the Sea Dogs lineup after missing Game 4 with an illness... the Oceanic were once again without regulars Xavier Cormier, Julien Beland and Luc Coughlin... the Sea Dogs wore their black third jerseys.. it was 10 years ago to the day that the Sea Dogs beat the Oceanic 8-0 in Game 4 of the QMJHL final to win their second President Cup... quite a few Oceanic jerseys in the house... fans were asked to remain standing until the Sea Dogs recorded their first shot on goal... Cam MacDonald and Mathis Aguilar dropped the gloves in the second period after a big open ice hit by MacDonald... Raivis Ansons took Brady Burns' spot on the top line for much of the final two periods. Burns and defenseman Nathan Drapeau barely saw the ice... Ansons had two assists... William Dufour had five shots... Vincent Sevigny was a -4... Josh Lawrence took a couple good knocks to the face in this game... despite the added intermission, the game took just 2:36 to complete... attendance was 2,872.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return to action on June 20, hosting the OHL champions in the opening game of the 2022 Memorial Cup.
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