Recap: Sea Dogs win 4-2

FINAL: Saint John 4, Charlottetown 2

TYNE VALLEY, PEI - The Saint John Sea Dogs are heading into the regular season on a winning note.

The Sea Dogs won their pre-season finale on Saturday night at the Cavendish Farms Community Event Centre in Tyne Valley, PEI, defeating the Charlottetown Islanders 4-2. The win gives the Sea Dogs a 4-2 record in exhibition play this year.

Olivier Groulx scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Elliot Dubé and newcomer Dennis Lominac. Charles-Edward Gravel played the entire game in net, making 38 stops in the win.

It was a much stronger performance from Saint John compared to last weekend's games, which saw them get outscored a combined 16-1. The Sea Dogs were engaged at both ends of the ice and – even though they allowed 40 shots – were much more aggressive and organized defensively.

Saint John was outshot 14-2 in the first period but managed to grab a 1-0 lead. The Dogs led 3-0 with seven minutes remaining in the third but goals from Simon Hughes and Matthew Butler got Charlottetown back in it. Groulx iced the game with a long empty net goal with 1:32 remaining.

Nicolas Ruccia made 18 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Miller - Schenk - Lominac

Rozzi - Yared - Reynolds

Dubé - Groulx - Cross

Calder - Beaulieu - Ferdinand

Caputo - Duhamel

MacLean - Scanzano

Bonnet - Amyot

Gravel

Robinson

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs did not dress forwards Tyler Peddle (NHL camp), Eriks Mateiko (NHL camp) and Egan Beveridge along with defensemen Matteo Mann (NHL camp), Nate Tivey and Nicolas Bilodeau.

NOTES: Forward Dennis Lominac, who the Sea Dogs signed earlier this week, made his QMJHL pre-season debut. He scored in the third period and had three shots on goal... Saint John's penalty kill has struggled this pre-season but successfully killed off all six Charlottetown power plays... Olivier Duhamel, who was not afraid to step up into the play in this game, had two assists... Jacob Beaulieu had five shots... Reid Calder had four hits... Charlottetown goaltender Nicolas Ruccia left the game briefly in the third period due to a skate issue... Charles-Edward Gravel came out of his crease and made a rarely seen (for a goaltender) between the legs pass to a Saint John teammate... it was a chippy game at times with a lot of scrums after whistles... this was the Sea Dogs' first trip to Tyne Valley... attendance was 424.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs begin regular season play on Friday night at TD Station, taking on the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m.