Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-1

FINAL: Shawinigan 4, Saint John 1

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs couldn't keep the momentum going from Saturday's big road win in Rimouski.

The Sea Dogs looked flat at times in a 4-1 loss to the Shawinigan Cataractes on Wednesday at TD Station. The Sea Dogs had a rough opening frame and were a bit fortunate to be down just 2-0. They rebounded in the second, getting back within one, but let the game slip away in the third period.

Saint John had four power plays but were unable to get much going on any of them. The team registered just 12 dangerous shots and 23 shots total. Saint John didn't record a shot in the third period until past the halfway mark.

Noah Reinhart scored Saint John's lone goal. Ventsislav Shingarov made 21 saves in the loss.

Kody Dupuis, Lou-Felix Denis, Alexis Bonefon and Felix Lacerte scored for Shawinigan. Remi Delafontaine made 22 saves in the win.

The Cataractes improved to an impressive 11-9-1-2 on the road this season and 4-0-0-0 against Maritimes Division opponents.

LINEUP

Burns - Reynolds - Elie

Mateiko - Cournoyer - Drover

Thifault - Burbidge - Reinhart

Casey - Laforge - Beaulieu

Tivey - DesRoches

Akkouche - Cosman

Ianniello - Bilodeau

Shingarov

Brideau

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Vincent Despont (injury) and Jeremie Richard (healthy) along with forwards Pavel Simek (injury), Harrison Ballard (healthy) and Luka Benoit (healthy).

DEBUT: Forward Nathan Casey, recently acquired from the Moncton Wildcats, made his Sea Dogs debut. He finished a -1 with one shot. This was his first QMJHL game since April 23.

REINHART GOAL: Bit of an unusual goal scored by Noah Reinhart in the second period. Reinhart has now scored in back-to-back games.

Reinhart storms into the zone and gets the Dogs on the board! 🚨#CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/SWanequpSR

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 19, 2023

NOTES: This was Shawinigan's first visit to Saint John since the 2022 Memorial Cup... the Cataractes scored on two of their first three shots... the Sea Dogs have lost three straight home games... Brady Burns had four shots... Saint John struggled in the faceoff circle again, winning just 27 of 66 draws... 1,871 was the announced attendance - but the actual crowd was much smaller than that.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play the first of back-to-back games against the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday at 7 p.m. at TD Station.