Saint John bouncing back from losing streak

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - It was an impressive week for the Saint John Sea Dogs, picking up five of a possible six points over their past three games.

After losing six straight, the Sea Dogs won back-to-back games at home and then dropped a shootout contest on the road. Saint John defeated the Gatineau Olympiques 6-5 last Thursday; downed the Acadie-Bathurst Titan 6-1 on Friday; and then concluded the week by falling 3-2 in a shootout to the Moncton Wildcats.

The club now owns a 4-7-0-1 record, which is fairly solid considering how tough the team's schedule has been (of their 12 games, they've played two against Quebec, one against Sherbrooke, three against Moncton and one against Gatineau).

This "hot and cold" style is the norm for a rebuilding team like Saint John that features a mix of veterans and rookies. The big question is: which version of the Sea Dogs will we see more of as the first half continues?

Some takeaways from the past three games:

• This positive stretch has been costly for the Sea Dogs on the injury front. Goaltender Nikolas Hurtubise was injured in a collision against Gatineau and, although he stayed in the game, did not dress Friday or Sunday. According to the Telegraph-Journal (paywall), Peter Reynolds will miss four weeks with an upper body injury suffered Friday. Cam MacDonald, meanwhile, missed much of the second half of Sunday's game with an apparent injury. Those are three key, veteran players for Saint John.
• Over three seasons, goaltender Ventsislav Shingarov had appeared in a total of seven QMJHL games before this year. He's already played in nine this season and has had some rough moments. But he's looked much more comfortable over the past couple games, carrying a shutout into the third period in both. He was named to the QMJHL's Team of the Week with a 1-0-0-1 record, .950 SV% and 1.44 GAA.
• Also named to the Team of the Week was captain Charlie DesRoches, who posted two goals, four assists and a +3 rating this past week.
• After a slow start to the season, Connor Trenholm has scored in three straight games.
• With Reynolds out of the lineup and MacDonald unavailable, Saint John started Sunday's three-on-three overtime with Burns-Trenholm-DesRoches and then went to the much less experienced Burbidge-Elie-Tivey combo followed by Laforge-Simek-Cosman.
• Friday's game against Bathurst ended a streak of seven straight games where the Sea Dogs allowed five or more goals. Saint John's goals against per game average has dropped down to 4.80.
• The Sea Dogs are averaging 31.45 shots per game, the sixth most in the league. Brady Burns has recorded 54 shots on goal in 12 games, the 11th most in the QMJHL. He has seven goals on the season but could easily have more if a few bounces had gone his way.
• Something each of the past three games had in common: the Sea Dogs scored first and they carried a lead into the third period.
• The Sea Dogs play three games again this week: Wednesday in Charlottetown, Saturday in Cape Breton and Sunday in Halifax.