Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-0

FINAL: Val-d'Or 0, Saint John 6

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs' top line was clicking in a 6-0 win over the Val-d'Or Foreurs on Sunday afternoon at TD Station.

Eriks Mateiko (two goals and two assists), Peter Reynolds (one goal and three assists) and Pavel Simek (one goal) all had strong games to lead Saint John to a win over the last-place Foreurs. Vince Elie and Nicolas Bilodeau also scored in the victory while Justin Robinson made 21 saves to earn his first career QMJHL shutout.

Mathis Lussier made 22 saves in the loss.

It was an uninspiring first period performance by the Sea Dogs but a late goal from Elie, which came on a two-on-one with Mateiko, gave Saint John a 1-0 lead.

Mateiko scored just 18 seconds into the second, firing a one-time shot that was set up by Peter Reynolds.

Simek scored on a shorthanded breakaway at 12:18 of the second to put Saint John up 3-0. Then, on a power play, Reynolds scored a buzzer-beater to give the Sea Dogs a 4-0 advantage.

Mateiko scored his second of the game one-minute into the third, finishing off a nice passing play. The goal came on a power play that was awarded to Saint John after the Foreurs showed up late to start the period.

Bilodeau scored from the circle at 12:05 to make it a 6-0 final.

Overall, it was the kind of performance you would hope the Sea Dogs would have against a struggling Foreurs squad that was playing the final game of a three-game road trip. It was also a rare home win for Saint John, who have now collected four victories at TD Station this season.

LINEUP

Simek - Reynolds - Mateiko 

Akkouche - Elie - Reinhart 

Benoit - Laforge - Bellemare 

Calder - Woods

Bilodeau - Gauthier 

Tivey - Mann

MacLean - Amyot

Richard

Robinson 

Leaver

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Egan Beveridge (injury), Kency Pierre-Noel (healthy) and Jacob Beaulieu (injury) along with defensemen Joseph Ianniello (injury) and Tristan Dassylva (healthy).

WELCOME BACK: Defenseman Jeremie Richard made his season debut with the Sea Dogs, skating as a seventh defensemen. He's appeared in 12 games with the MHL's Amherst Ramblers this year. Forward Francis Woods, meanwhile, played in just his third game with the Sea Dogs and his first since Oct. 27.

ODD PENALTY: The Foreurs started the third period shorthanded after showing up late to start the period. Eriks Mateiko scored on the ensuing power play to make it 5-0.

Don’t see this too often pic.twitter.com/mQWFD8rCAr

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) November 26, 2023

NOTES: Forward Egan Beveridge and defenseman Joseph Ianniello, both hurt in Saturday's game, were out of the lineup... Saint John went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen... there was a stretch of play late in the first period that went nearly five minutes without a whistle... this was the final meeting of the season between Saint John and Val-d'Or. The Sea Dogs won both meetings... Saint John tied their season high for goals in a game... this was Saint John's first shutout win of the season... 1,939 was the attendance, the smallest home crowd of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs head to Moncton on Thursday to face the Wildcats at 7 p.m.