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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
SAINT JOHN - Lubos Stahon's first career QMJHL goal proved to be the winner as the Cape Breton Eagles edged the Saint John Sea Dogs 4-3 on Friday at TD Station.
Stahon's shot beat Sea Dogs goaltender Patrick Leaver and went off the post and in with 2:08 remaining in regulation time, giving the Eagles their first win of the year. Cape Breton, who have struggled to generate offense in the early goings of this season, was outshot 31-18 by Saint John.
William Shields, Cole Burbidge and Antoine Roy also scored for Cape Breton. Nicolas Ruccia made 28 saves in the win
Egan Beveridge, Eriks Mateiko and Peter Reynolds had Saint John goals. Leaver made 14 stops in the loss.
Saint John looked a bit better defensively compared to last weekend when they allowed a ton of shots. But two late third period goals against — one at 15:48 and another at 17:52 — were killers in this game.
Beveridge opened the scoring at 5:32 of the first period when he fired a low shot from the high slot through some traffic and past Ruccia.
The Eagles tied things up at 8:12 of the second period when Shields beat Leaver glove side on a long breakaway.
Burbidge then gave the Eagles a 2-1 advantage with a power play goal at 11:56. After a Cam MacDonald shot hit the post, the puck went to Burbidge who had an open net to put in his first as a member of the Eagles.
The Sea Dogs quickly tied the game again at 13:40 when Mateiko, on a broken play, ripped a shot past Ruccia from the top of the circle.
With 1:06 left in the second, the Eagles turned the puck over in their own zone which eventually led to Reynolds roofing a shot over the shoulder of Ruccia to give Saint John a 3-2 advantage.
With 4:12 remaining in the third, Cape Breton tied the game at 3-3. Leaver stretched out to stop Stahon's shot but couldn't stop Roy's rebound attempt, evening the game up once again. Then at 17:52, Stahon fired a shot that hit a post and went in, giving Cape Breton a 4-3 advantage. The play was reviewed for an offside but did stand.
LINEUP
Mateiko - Reynolds - Reinhart
Simek - Elie - Beveridge
Akkouche - Pierre-Noel - Benoit
Calder - Laforge - Beaulieu
Tivey - Gauthier
Bilodeau - Ianniello
Dassylva - Amyot
Leaver
Robinson
SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Chad Bellemare (injury) and Sam-Luca Thifault (injury) along with defensemen Matteo Mann (Philadelphia Flyers camp/injury) and Matthew MacLean (healthy).
DEBUTS: Nico Laforge made his season debut after missing all of the pre-season and the first two games of the regular season with an injury. Kency Pierre-Noel, meanwhile, made his Sea Dogs debut after not playing last weekend.
WELCOME BACK: Former Sea Dogs forwards Cole Burbidge and Cam MacDonald returned to TD Station. For Burbidge, this was his first game in Saint John since being dealt during the summer. Both were honoured during a break in the first period. Burbidge had a goal and an assist while MacDonald had a helper.
NOTES: Egan Beveridge now has two goals in his first three QMJHL games... for a second straight home game, there were some issues with the net pegs in the Sea Dogs' shoot twice zone... Peter Reynolds' goal was his first of the season... Reynolds had six shots... Eriks Mateiko now has three goals in three games... attendance was 2,266.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Eagles meet again tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at TD Station.
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