Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-1

FINAL: Saint John 1, Gatineau 7

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

GATINEAU, QC - The Gatineau Olympiques had little trouble with the Saint John Sea Dogs in the first game of their first-round best-of-seven Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff series.

Zach Dean recorded a hat trick and added an assist to lead the Olympiques to a 7-1 win in front of a packed Slush Puppie Centre. Antonin Verreault, Olivier Nadeau, Will Chisholm and Alexis Gendron also scored for Gatineau. Defenseman Tristan Luneau added three assists.

Olympiques goaltender Francesco Lapenna wasn't tested too much, making 21 saves in the win. Saint John fired just nine dangerous shots on net in the game.

Saint John hung around in the first two periods thanks to some great goaltending from Ventsislav Shingarov, who allowed just two goals on 38 shots in the first 40 minutes. Gatineau scored two goals early in the third period to erase any chance of a Saint John comeback attempt.

Shingarov made 45 stops in the loss. Saint John allowed 52 shots, the third most given up in a playoff game in franchise history.

Defenseman Jared Cosman scored Saint John's lone goal, which came while catching the Olympiques snoozing on a shorthanded chance in the third.

LINEUP

Burns - Burbidge - Reinhart

Mateiko - Reynolds - Elie

Simek - Cournoyer - Drover

Beaulieu - Benoit

Tivey - DesRoches

Ianniello - Cosman

Bilodeau - Akkouche

Despont 

Shingarov 

Brideau

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defenseman Jeremie Richard (injury) along with forwards Sam-Luca Thifault (injury), Harrison Ballard (healthy), Nathan Casey (injury), Nico Laforge (injury).

ATMOSPHERE: It may not have been the old Robert Guertin Arena during the 2011 QMJHL final, but there was quite an atmosphere at the Slush Puppie Centre for this one. The game featured a sellout crowd of 5,000.

La foule est déchaînée au Centre Slush Puppie. Il y même eu les Go Hull Go au début de l’hymne national. ⁦@OlympiquesGAT⁩ pic.twitter.com/qtWbNwLtAz

— jf plante (@jfplante_Droit) March 31, 2023

LOTS OF SHOTS: The Sea Dogs allowed 22 shots in the second period, nearly matching the franchise record for shots allowed in a single period in a playoff game. Saint John allowed 52 shots in the game, the third most allowed in a playoff game in team history.

Sea Dogs allowed 22 shots in that second period, nearly matching what MacKinnon's Mooseheads did to Saint John in the 2013 playoffs. pic.twitter.com/8zTyyGhXlW

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) April 1, 2023

LONE GOAL: Defenseman Jared Cosman, of all people, scored Saint John's lone goal, which came while shorthanded in the third period. It was just the 10th goal of Cosman's three-year QMJHL career and first in the post-season.

Jared Cosman gets the Sea Dogs on the board with a shorty. pic.twitter.com/WS5mYjyzXw

— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) April 1, 2023

SHINGAROV: Ventsislav Shingarov is going to have to be at his best for the Sea Dogs to have a chance in this series. He was excellent in this game, making 45 saves in the loss. He even covered a loose puck with his bare hand during a scrum in the crease in the third period.

NOTES: Saint John won 32 of 60 faceoffs... Riley Kidney had eight shots and Zach Dean seven... Gatineau went 0/4 on the power play.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Olympiques meet again tomorrow night at 5 p.m. at the Slush Puppie Centre for Game 2 of this first round series.