Recap: Sea Dogs win 7-3

FINAL: Saint John 7, Bathurst 3

Bryannah James/Acadie-Bathurst Titan

BATHURST - The Saint John Sea Dogs ended a three-game losing streak with a big 7-3 victory over the Acadie-Bathurst Titan on Friday.

Rookie defenseman Nicolas Bilodeau had the best offensive performance of his junior career, netting a hat trick in the victory. Noah Reinhart, meanwhile, had four points (one goal and three assists) while Brady Burns (one goal and two assists) and Cole Burbidge (one goal and two assists) each had three. Alexis Cournoyer had Saint John's other goal.

Ventsislav Shingarov made 31 stops in the win.

The Sea Dogs have struggled on the road all season but have now won back-to-back games away from home: this 7-3 victory and the big 8-3 win in Rimouski on Jan. 14.

Including this game, the Sea Dogs play five straight games on the road.

Dylan Andrews scored a pair of goals for Bathurst while Noah Ryan added a single. Joshua Fleming made 30 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Burns - Burbidge - Reinhart

Mateiko - Reynolds - Drover

Thifault - Cournoyer - Simek

Beaulieu - Laforge - Benoit

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 Vince Elie (healthy), Nathan Casey (healthy) and Harrison Ballard (healthy).

BIG NIGHT: Rookie defenseman Nicolas Bilodeau netted a hat trick - the first multi-goal game of his QMJHL career. Bilodeau is the first rookie defenseman in Sea Dogs history to record a hat trick. This was also just the fourth hat trick by a Sea Dogs defenseman in team history (Luke Green did it once and Jeremie Poirier twice).

Bilodeau scores on the power play to complete his FIRST QMJHL Hat Trick! Congratulations Nicolas! #CityofChampions pic.twitter.com/DTj6q0DdRD

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) January 28, 2023

NOTES: Rookie forward Vince Elie being listed as a healthy scratch is certainly noteworthy... Saint John went 2/4 on the power play... Cole Burbidge now has four goals and four assists over his past three games... Peter Reynolds had five shots... Pavel Simek returned from injury, playing in his first game since Jan. 6... Alexis Cournoyer has scored in four of his past five games... Saint John is now 3-2-0-0 against Bathurst this season... attendance was 1,376.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs visit the Wildcats in Moncton tomorrow night at 7 p.m.