Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-2

FINAL: Charlottetown 2, Saint John 5

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - A trio of third period goals led the Saint John Sea Dogs to a 5-2 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders on Sunday at TD Station.

Eriks Mateiko gave the Sea Dogs a 3-2 lead at 11:34 of the third. Then at 13:59, Pavel Simek sped into the offensive zone on a breakaway and slid the puck under Islanders netminder Carter Bickle, making it 4-2. Simek added an empty netter with 57.2 seconds remaining to make it a 5-2 final.

The goals came after the Sea Dogs killed off six minutes worth of Charlottetown power play time earlier in the third. Saint John kept the league's best power play scoreless on five opportunities.

Vince Elie and Noah Reinhart also scored for the Sea Dogs, who ended a three-game losing streak. Elie had two assists as well. Patrick Leaver made 29 saves in the win.

Saint John never trailed in this game but Charlottetown certainly grabbed momentum and controlled the play at times. The Sea Dogs bent but didn't break, building off a strong showing on Friday against the top-ranked Halifax Mooseheads.

Shots in the game ended 31-22 in favour of the Islanders.

Ondrej Maruna and Cole Huckins scored for Charlottetown. Bickle made 17 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Simek - Reynolds - Mateiko

Akkouche - Elie - Reinhart

Thifault - Pierre-Noel - Beveridge

Benoit - Beaulieu - Bellemare

Tivey - Mann

Bilodeau - Gauthier

Ianniello - Dassylva

Leaver

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Reid Calder (healthy), Nico Laforge (healthy) and Francis Woods (healthy) along with defensemen Matthew MacLean (healthy) and Benjamin Amyot (healthy).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs wore their black third jerseys... forward Sam-Luca Thifault returned from suspension... the Sea Dogs held a Remembrance Day ceremony before the game... it was a battle of former Oshawa Generals in nets with Patrick Leaver taking on Carter Bickle... this was just Saint John's third home win of the season... Noah Reinhart had five shots... Saint John struggled in the faceoff dot early in the game but got better as the game went on... the attendance of 3,434 was the third largest home crowd of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return to action tomorrow, hosting the Cape Breton Eagles for a rare 2 p.m. holiday Monday start.