Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-3

FINAL: Saint John 3, Charlottetown 4

CHARLOTTETOWN - The Saint John Sea Dogs dropped a close pre-season game to the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Horth scored what proved to be the game-winner in the third period, giving the Islanders a 4-3 win at UPEI's MacLaughlin Arena. The loss drops Saint John's pre-season record to 2-3-0-0 with one exhibition contest remaining.

Noah Reinhart, Peter Reynolds and Jacob Beaulieu scored for Saint John. Patrick Leaver, making his first appearance since signing with the Sea Dogs, made 38 stops in the loss.

Charlottetown led 1-0 after the first period. The Sea Dogs got on the board with a power play marker at 4:16 when Reynolds found Reinhart, making it a 1-1 game.

Saint John had an excellent chance to take the lead soon after when Chad Bellemare sped past the Islanders defense but was hooked up, giving the speedy Dogs forward a penalty shot. Bellemare was stopped by the glove of Isles netminder Niko Boudreau on his free attempt.

Charlottetown scored twice in the middle frame to take a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes.

At 2:56 of the third on a power play, Nicholas Bilodeau found Reynolds above the circle who ripped a shot past Boudreau to make it 3-2.

Horth's goal at 7:22 made it 4-2 Charlottetown but Beaulieu got the Dogs back within one when he flipped the puck over Boudreau's pad on a short breakaway. That would be as close as Saint John would get to tying things up.

LINEUP

Mateiko - Reynolds - Reinhart

Lyons - Elie - Benoit

Simek - Beveridge - Bellemare

Akkouche - Pierre-Noel - Beaulieu

Calder

Bilodeau - Dassylva

Tivey - Ianniello

MacLean - Amyot

Leaver

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Nico Laforge and Sam-Luca Thifault along with defensemen Mathis Gauthier and Matteo Mann.

NOTES: Peter Reynolds made his pre-season debut and sported the captain's 'C'. He is the only player to wear the letter this pre-season... Reynolds finished the game with a goal, an assist, three shots and 11/13 on faceoffs... Kiefer Lyons played against his old club for the first time... Jacob Beaulieu had four hits... the Islanders outshot the Sea Dogs 20-9 in the second period... the Sea Dogs were much more organized defensively than they were in Friday's 10-2 loss to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan... the Sea Dogs went 0-3-0-0 in road games this pre-season... attendance on a lovely Sunday afternoon was just 184.

VIDEO: You can rewatch the game below.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs close out the pre-season on Friday night at TD Station against the Charlottetown Islanders.