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| Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs |
The Sea Dogs scored twice in the first 5:45 of the game in a 6-2 win over the Charlottetown Islanders on Friday at Eastlink Centre. It was a much different performance by Saint John after scoring a total of two goals in their first two games of the season.
Saint John's offense, which struggled to generate quality chances last weekend, was lifted by the return of Tyler Peddle and Eriks Mateiko from NHL camps. Peddle netted a hat trick in his return while singles came from Elliot Dubé, Nate Tivey and William Yared.
Charles-Edward Gravel, who was kept busy in the second half of the match, made 45 saves in the victory.
Matthew Butler and Alexis Michaud scored for Charlottetown. Nicola Ruccia allowed five goals on 26 shots in the first two periods. Donald Hickey made six saves in the third.
The Sea Dogs went to a power play just 3:29 into the game. Saint John was buzzing in the offensive zone – something that hadn't been seen up until this point – and ended with Peddle ripping a shot from the circle past Ruccia to open the scoring.
Just 41 seconds later, Dubé netted his first career QMJHL goal to continue pushing momentum in Saint John's favour. Shots were 12-2 Saint John at one point.
The Islanders slowly got back into the game later in the first period but Tivey, who simply walked into the zone and beat Ruccia clean, gave the Dogs a commanding 3-0 advantage at 16:15.
In the second, Peddle scored his second power play goal of the night at 12:19 to make it 4-0. Then, with just three seconds remaining in the period, Yared put in a rebound to make it 5-0 after two.
It was all Islanders in the first half of the third period and they were rewarded with a Butler goal at 7:47. Saint John got one back at 12:34 when Peddle ripped home his third of the game, lowering to one knee to get everything on the shot.
Much of the third period play was in Saint John's zone with shots ending 24-7 in favour of the Islanders. Michaud scored at 15:16 to make it a 6-2 final.
LINEUP
Peddle - Mateiko - Cross
Rozzi - Dubé - Yared
Lominac - Groulx - Reynolds
Calder - Schenk - Beaulieu
Tivey - Duhamel
MacLean - Amyot
Bilodeau - Scanzano
Gravel
Robinson
SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Matteo Mann (AHL training camp), Giuliano Caputo (healthy) and Julien Bonnet (healthy) along with forwards Coen Miller (injured or sick) and Egan Beveridge (healthy).
FIRST GOAL: Elliot Dubé netted his first career QMJHL goal early in the first period.
Yared 🔄 Dube#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/krTcnULEMD
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 27, 2024
ANOTHER FIRST GOAL: William Yared, Saint John's top pick in this year's draft, scored his first QMJHL goal in the second period. Yared picked up his first point, an assist, earlier in the game.
First one for the rookie ✅#GoDogsGo pic.twitter.com/alvNwWoFb6
— Saint John Sea Dogs (@SJSeaDogs) September 27, 2024
NOTES: Saint John went with 12 forwards and six defensemen for the first time this season... Tyler Peddle and Eriks Mateiko, who were reassigned to Saint John from their respective NHL clubs this week, made their regular season debuts and were put on the team's top line with Ben Cross... defenseman Giuliano Caputo, who was suspended for the first two games of the season, was a healthy scratch... this was Saint John's first road game of the season and first regular season road win since Jan. 27... the Sea Dogs avoided starting the season 0-3, which they haven't done since 2021-22... defenseman Cruz Scanzano collected his first career QMJHL point in the third period, assisting on Peddle's hat trick goal... this was just the second hat trick of Peddle's career... Peddle also had a team high seven shots... Nate Tivey had a goal and three assists. He set a new career high for points in a game and matched his career high for assists in a game... Saint John went 2/4 on the power play... attendance was 2,341.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return to action on Sunday afternoon when they visit the Cape Breton Eagles at 3 p.m.
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