Recap: Sea Dogs lose 3-2 (SO)

FINAL: Moncton 3, Saint John 2 (SO)

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - After a wild Wednesday night, the Saint John Sea Dogs remain ahead of the Quebec Remparts in the race for the QMJHL's final playoff spot — but by the slimmest of margins.

Both the Sea Dogs and Remparts lost in shootouts on Wednesday, meaning both teams have 47 points with two games remaining. The Sea Dogs hold the first tiebreaker. The only way for Quebec to pass Saint John is by having more points.

The Sea Dogs were oh so close to a regulation time win before falling in a six-round shootout to the Moncton Wildcats at TD Station. Shawn Carrier scored the winner in the sixth round to give Moncton a 3-2 victory.

Miles Mueller tied the game with 14.6 seconds remaining in regulation time to send the match into overtime. The goal came on a big scramble in the crease where Patrick Leaver was unable to freeze the puck, allowing it to be poked loose.

Miles forces overtime.
🚨 Miles Müller
🍎 Lounsbury, Morin
19:45, Prd 3

MON 2 // SNB 2#DefendTheDen https://t.co/EuO7h3PjEv pic.twitter.com/mYAHlCoF37

— Moncton Wildcats (@monctonwildcats) March 21, 2024

Mueller's game-tying goal came not long after Brody Fournier gave the Sea Dogs a 2-1 lead at 18:07, a goal that came just after Saint John killed off a third penalty against the QMJHL's top power play unit.

The Sea Dogs played a fairly solid game against the Wildcats and were certainly worthy of a point — and perhaps more. The Wildcats, despite outshooting the Sea Dogs 45-29, were no doubt hoping for a better performance following a 3-1 home loss to the Cape Breton Eagles on Sunday.

Coen Miller also scored for Saint John, which came on the team's first shot on goal just 1:22 in. Leaver had another strong performance in net and made 43 saves in the loss.
 

Caleb Desnoyers scored Moncton's other goal which came just 46 seconds in (and was Moncton's first shot). Jacob Steinman made 27 stops in the win.

LINEUP

Simek - Beveridge - Elliott

Peddle - Miller - Fournier

Reynolds - Groulx - Beaulieu

Calder - Laforge - Benoit

Tivey - Ianniello

Bilodeau - Mann

MacLean - Amyot

Leaver

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Eriks Mateiko (injury) and Benjamin Beaudry (healthy) along with defensemen Olivier Duhamel (injury) and Jeremie Richard (healthy).

NOTES: Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard returned behind the bench. Crickard has been away from the time since suffering a medical emergency on March 9 in Sydney... along with Crickard, Jeff Hansen, Mark Lee and faceoff coach Mike Eagles were all behind the bench... former Sea Dogs forward Connor Trenholm remained out of the Wildcats lineup with an injury or sickness... Saint John goaltender Patrick Leaver appeared in a seventh straight game... Coen Miller and Tyler Peddle each have five points over their last three games... Nicolas Bilodeau had four shots... faceoffs were 42-26 in favour of Moncton... the Sea Dogs are now 1-4 in shootouts this year... this was the final meeting of the season between the Sea Dogs and Wildcats. Moncton won eight of the nine meetings... attendance was 2,173. Ticket prices were reduced to $15 and there was a BOGO deal on hot dogs.

Gardiner MacDougall is in the house folks 👍 pic.twitter.com/vnXxpfeXJ1

— Jamie Tozer (@station_nation) March 20, 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs play the first of back-to-back games against the Halifax Mooseheads on Friday at 7 p.m. at TD Station.