Recap: Sea Dogs win 7-2

FINAL: Saint John 7, Cape Breton 2

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SYDNEY, NS - For just the second time this season, the Saint John Sea Dogs have won a road game.

The Sea Dogs scored three times in the first period en route to a big 7-2 win over the Cape Breton Eagles on Thursday night at Centre 200. Saint John had lost nine straight road games heading into the contest with their lone victory away from TD Station coming on Sept. 25 in Bathurst.

Alexis Cournoyer scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Brady Burns, Cam MacDonald, Sam-Luca Thifault, Cole Burbidge and Eriks Mateiko. Nikolas Hurtubise made 36 saves in the win.

Saint John carried the momentum they gained from scoring two goals in the opening 5:07 throughout the contest. The Eagles had their moments, but Saint John never let Cape Breton back into the game.

Saint John's offense (obviously) had a good night with six different players scoring. The team's struggling power play even converted twice.

Francois-James Buteau and Thomas Lavoie scored for Cape Breton. Oliver Satny was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 12 shots. Nicolas Ruccia allowed two goals on 11 shots in relief.

LINEUP

Reynolds - MacDonald - Burns

Thifault - Trenholm - Reinhart

Laforge - Burbidge - Mateiko

Simek - Cournoyer - Beaulieu

Tivey - DesRoches

Akkouche - Tracey

Bilodeau - Despont

Hurtubise

Shingarov

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Olivier Brideau (healthy); defensemen Jared Cosman (injury) and Jeremie Richard (injury); and forwards Tomasz Szczerba (injury) and Vince Elie (healthy).

WELCOME BACK: The Sea Dogs got some much needed reinforcements with defensemen Charlie DesRoches (last game Nov. 5) and Jake Tracey (last game Nov. 5) returning from injury along with forward Peter Reynolds (last game Oct. 28).

FIRST GOAL: Forward Alexis Cournoyer became the latest Sea Dog to score his first QMJHL goal this season, putting in a rebound early in the first period. He added a second goal at 18:10 to give Saint John a 3-0 advantage at the time.

It wasn't long after that that Alexis Cournoyer added one to the scoresheet, his first QMJHL goal! 🚨#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/EgB5rWRnHB

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) November 25, 2022

(ALMOST) FIRST GOAL: It looked as though defenseman Nate Tivey had also scored his first QMJHL game in this game, firing a point shot through some traffic at 11:37 of the second period to give Saint John a 5-1 lead. The goal was later awarded to Sam-Luca Thifault. Tivey had two assists in the game.

NOTES: The Sea Dogs were shutout 4-0 in their last (and only) game against the Eagles... this was just the sixth game all season that saw the Sea Dogs leading after the first and second periods... Cape Breton had a four-game home winning streak snapped... Cape Breton defenseman Tomas Lavoie, the first overall pick in this year's QMJHL Entry Draft, netted his first goal in the third period... this was the second time this season Saint John scored seven goals, which is a season high... Cam MacDonald had six shots... Cape Breton's Jeremy Langlois had eight shots... attendance was 1,744.

HIGHLIGHTS

Coming soon.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return home to host the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Saturday at 7 p.m.