Recap: Sea Dogs lose 9-0

FINAL: Saint John 0, Gatineau 9

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

GATINEAU, QC - The Saint John Sea Dogs are heading home in a 0-2 series deficit.

The Sea Dogs dropped Game 2 of their first-round best-of-seven series with the Gatineau Olympiques on Saturday, falling 9-0 to one of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's top teams at the Slush Puppie Centre.

Gatineau now leads the series 2-0 after winning Friday's Game 1 by a score of 7-1. The next two games - and a third if needed - will be played in Saint John.

Alexis Gendron netted a natural hat trick while singles came from Antonin Verreault, Cole Cormier, Zach Dean, Cam MacDonald, Riley Kidney and Olivier Nadeau. Kidney finished the game with six points, adding five assists to his third period goal.

Francesco Lapenna made 25 saves in the shutout win. The Sea Dogs had some decent chances here and there, including in the final minute of the third. Saint John went 0/5 on the power play.

Ventsislav Shingarov allowed six goals on 27 shots in the first 40 minutes of action. Olivier Brideau, making his first appearance since late February, allowed three goals on nine shots in the third.

LINEUP

Mateiko - Reynolds - Reinhart

Burns - Burbidge - Benoit

Simek - Drover - Elie

Cournoyer - Beaulieu

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) and Nico Laforge (injury).

ATMOSPHERE: It was another sold out and electric crowd at Slush Puppie Centre. Attendance was, once again, 5,000.

Laissez faire le poisson. L’hymne national pour le match #2 des ⁦@OlympiquesGAT⁩ va ⁦@SJSeaDogs⁩ pic.twitter.com/ZZKyNg0N8u

— jf plante (@jfplante_Droit) April 1, 2023

QUICK START: Antonin Verreault scored 39 seconds into the game and then Alexis Gendron connected nine seconds later, quickly making it 2-0 Olympiques. Those were the first two shots of the game for the Olympiques.

HAT TRICK: Zach Dean scored a hat trick in Game 1 and Alexis Gendron did the same in Game 2. Gendron scored twice in the first period and netted his third just 1:43 into the middle frame, completing the natural hattie.

🎩🎩🎩

🚨 Alexis Gendron marque son 3e but du match, son 4e des séries! | Alexis Gendron scores his 3rd goal of the game, his 4th of the playoffs! @NHLFlyers

🍎 Sam Savoie | @NHLBlackhawks
🍏 Riley Kidney | @CanadiensMTL

SNB | 0-4 | GAT#goOLgo♠️ pic.twitter.com/TwaIftOCEC

— Olympiques de Gatineau (@OlympiquesGAT) April 1, 2023

ON THE BOARD: Former Dog Cam MacDonald recorded his first point of the series, scoring in the third period. MacDonald had two goals with the Sea Dogs during their first-round loss to the Rimouski Oceanic last year.

ET DE 7!
IT'S NOW 7-0!

🚨 Au tour de Cam MacDonald de marquer!

🚨 Cam MacDonald's turn to score!#goOLgo♠️ pic.twitter.com/pWbw3ksdDH

— Olympiques de Gatineau (@OlympiquesGAT) April 1, 2023

NOTES: The Sea Dogs are now 0-4-0-0 all-time at the Slush Puppie Centre... Saint John had a five-on-three power play in the first period and generated a few shots but were unable to score... Vincent Despont was given a misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct in the second period... Alex Drover had a breakaway with 15 seconds remaining but could not beat Francesco Lapenna... Gatineau went 2/3 on the power play... this game had a lot more pushing and rough stuff after whistles compared to Friday's match... Jacob Beaulieu finished with six minutes in penalties... Brady Burns and Vince Elie each had three shots... Alexis Gendron had six shots... Gatineau won 32 of 55 faceoffs... the Sea Dogs planned to fly home after the game, according to radio broadcaster Bruce Smith.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: Game 3 of this best-of-seven series takes place on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.