Recap: Sea Dogs lose 4-0

FINAL: Rimouski 4, Saint John 0

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - It was a rough night for the Saint John Sea Dogs in a 4-0 loss to the Rimouski Oceanic at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs struggled to generate quality scoring chances in the shutout loss as the team's home woes continued. Saint John has now dropped four straight games on home ice.

Saint John recorded just 10 shots on goal in the first two periods combined and 20 through the full 60 minutes. Only eight of those 20 shots were counted as dangerous by the official scorers. 

Some of the offensive struggles no doubt had to do with new — and returning — players being mixed into Saint John's lineup as the team continues to fine tune its roster for the second half.

Maxime Coursol, Spencer Gill, Mael St-Denis and Jacob Mathieu scored for Rimouski. Former Sea Dogs forward Charles Savoie added two assists. Quentin Miller made 20 saves in the shutout victory.

Patrick Leaver made 40 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Simek - Mateiko - Fournier

Elliott - Peddle - Beveridge

Reynolds - Laforge - Beaulieu

Groulx - Benoit

Tivey - Ianniello

Bilodeau - Mann

Amyot - Duhamel

Richard

Leaver

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Reid Calder (healthy), Benjamin Beaudry (healthy) and Coen Miller (injury) along with defenseman Matthew MacLean (healthy).

NEW LETTERS: As previously mentioned, every member of Saint John's leadership group was traded during the holiday trade period — but some new players wore letters on Thursday. Forward Eriks Mateiko, Nico Laforge and Drew Elliott along with defenseman Nate Tivey each wore an 'A' in this game.

FIRST GAME: 16-year-old forward Olivier Groulx, acquired in the Vince Elie trade, made his Sea Dogs debut, skating on the fourth line. Groulx did not record any shots in the loss and went 0/5 in the faceoff circle.

NOTES: QMJHL commissioner Mario Cecchini, making his first official trip to Saint John, performed the ceremonial puck drop... Saint John dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen... forward Eriks Mateiko played in his first game since returning from the World Junior Hockey Championship. This was his first QMJHL game since Dec. 6... this was the final meeting of the season between the Sea Dogs and Oceanic. The season series ends in a split... Rimouski's Maxime Coursol has now scored in four straight games... this was the third time this season that Saint John has been shutout... Nicolas Bilodeau had four shots... with Peter Reynolds, Vince Elie and Kency Pierre-Noel all gone, Rimouski edged the Sea Dogs 40-17 in the faceoff circle... attendance was 1,865, which matches the smallest home crowd of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Victoriaville Tigres on Saturday night at TD Station.