Recap: Sea Dogs lose 6-1

FINAL: Moncton 6, Saint John 1

MONCTON - It was another rough night for the Saint John Sea Dogs.

The Sea Dogs struggled at both ends of the ice in a 6-1 loss to the Moncton Wildcats on Wednesday at Avenir Centre. Saint John has now dropped six straight games but continue to cling to the QMJHL's 16th and final playoff spot.

Shawn Carrier, Yoan Loshing, Miles Mueller, Caleb Desnoyers, Sebastian Glas and Alex Mercier scored for Moncton. Jacob Steinman made 23 saves in the victory.

The Wildcats looked faster and stronger than the Sea Dogs from start to finish. The Sea Dogs, once again, struggled to generate quality scoring chances and looked disorganized defensively at times. Goaltender Patrick Leaver kept them in the game in the first period, which saw Moncton outshoot Saint John 19-6. Leaver made 32 saves in the loss.

Body Fournier scored Saint John's lone goal on a power play with 8:47 remaining in the third period — but the game was already out of reach.

The Sea Dogs now head to Cape Breton for two challenging road games against the Eagles. They'll be doing some scoreboard watching this weekend with the Quebec Remparts, who are currently tied with Saint John, facing the Gatineau Olympiques in back-to-back games.

LINEUP

Mateiko - Elliott - Fournier

Simek - Miller - Beveridge

Reynolds - Groulx - Beaulieu

Laforge - Benoit

Tivey - Ianniello

Bilodeau - Mann

MacLean - Amyot

Duhamel

Leaver 

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Tyler Peddle (injury or sickness), Reid Calder (injury or sickness) and Benjamin Beaudry (healthy) along with defenseman Jeremie Richard (healthy).

NOTES: Forward Reid Calder was a late scratch for Saint John... forward Tyler Peddle, who scored in back-to-back games for Saint John last week, was out of the Saint John lineup with an injury or sickness... Eriks Mateiko returned to the Sea Dogs lineup from injury, playing in his first game since Feb. 24... this was Saint John's final trip of the season to the Avenir Centre... forward Jacob Beaulieu returned from a three-game suspension for Saint John while forward Yoan Loshing returned from a three-game suspension for Moncton... Matteo Mann and Gabe Smith dropped the gloves for a short fight in the third period... Mateiko and Drew Elliott each had four shots... faceoffs were 39-25 in favour of Moncton... the Wildcats went 2/7 on the power play... the Sea Dogs have now lost 10 straight road games... attendance was 4,865.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Cape Breton for a pair of games on Friday and Saturday night.