Big weekend ahead for Sea Dogs

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

There's no doubt about it: this is a big weekend for the Saint John Sea Dogs and their playoff hopes.

With 14 regular season games remaining, the Sea Dogs will play a three-in-three in Quebec this weekend — and it begins with what will be the team's biggest game of the season (to date, anyways).

The Sea Dogs will face the Quebec Remparts on Friday night at 8 p.m. Atlantic at Videotron Centre. Saint John currently holds the QMJHL's 16th and final playoff spot with 41 points while Quebec is 17th with 40. The Dogs have also played one less game. The result of Friday's match could be huge in determining who grabs that final playoff spot.

The Remparts head into Friday's meeting on an eight-game losing streak.

On Saturday, the Sea Dogs will face their toughest test of this road trip, visiting Noah Reinhart and the Drummondville Voltigeurs at 5 p.m. The Volts currently sit second overall in the QMJHL standings having leapfrogged the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Western Conference.

The Volts have been one of the QMJHL's best teams in the second half and are currently on a seven-game winning streak.

Saturday's game will also be Tyler Peddle's first visit to Drummondville since being traded. Peddle will serve the second and final game of his two-game suspension on Friday in Quebec City.

The Sea Dogs will play the final game of this trip on Sunday afternoon in Sherbrooke. The Phoenix are having a surprisingly okay season and have been very good on home ice, posting a 16-10-0-2 record. They're currently in a fight for home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Saint John does not have an easy schedule the rest of the way. Following this three-in-three, the team returns to the Maritimes to host the league-leading Baie-Comeau Drakkar before heading to Halifax to face the Mooseheads.

Of Saint John's remaining divisional games, the team will face Halifax three times, Cape Breton twice, Charlottetown twice, Moncton twice and Bathurst once.