Recap: Sea Dogs lose 8-5

FINAL: Saint John 5, Moncton 8

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

MONCTON - The Moncton Wildcats' power play proved to be the difference in a wild game at Avenir Centre on Thursday night.

The Wildcats went 4/5 on the man advantage in an 8-5 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs, extending their winning streak to five games.

It was a game of momentum shifts. The Wildcats led 6-1 at one point in the second period and looked to be in complete control heading into the third up 6-2. But Saint John rattled off three quick goals in the third to get within one – but that would be as close as they would get. Moncton added two more in the final frame to secure the win.

Yoan Loshing had a hat trick for Moncton; Caleb Desnoyers scored twice and singles came from Vincent Collard, Preston Lounsbury and Julius Sumpf. Keegan Warren allowed five goals on 25 shots while Jacob Steinman stopped all six shots he faced in the third.

Egan Beveridge, William Yared, Eriks Mateiko and Elliot Dubé all scored for Saint John. Zachary Morin had three assists. Justin Robinson made 41 stops in the loss.

The Sea Dogs opened the scoring with a power play goal at 11:29 of the first. The Sea Dogs were cycling the puck around well before a Morin shot was stopped by Warren but Groulx was in front to put in the rebound.

Moncton quickly responded with two goals. Loshing scored just eight seconds after Groulx and then, on a power play at 12:32, Desnoyers cut through nearly every Sea Dog on the ice to put the Wildcats in front 2-1 after one.

The Wildcats blew it open in the second period. Just 1:17 in, Loshing scored his second of the game on a power play to make it 3-1. Giuliano Caputo was given a five-minute major and game misconduct for a check from behind at 9:05, sending Moncton to another man advantage that would see Collard score to make it 4-1.

Lounsbury and Desnoyers also scored in the second while Beveridge netted a late marker for Saint John.

Saint John came out firing in the third. Yared, Mateiko and Dubé all scored within the first 4:18 to get within one. But all that momentum seemed to deflate when Matteo Mann took an interference penalty at 11:56, allowing Sumpf to score on the man advantage to make it 7-5. Loshing completed his hat trick at 13:59, making it an 8-5 final.

LINEUP

Peddle - Mateiko - Cross

Morin - Groulx - Beveridge

Yared - Dubé - Rozzi

Reynolds - Miller - Beaulieu

Tivey - Duhamel

Bilodeau - Mann

MacLean - Caputo

Robinson

Gravel

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without defensemen Benjamin Amyot (injury), Julien Bonnet (healthy) and Cruz Scanzano (healthy) along with forwards Reid Calder (healthy) and Florian Schenk (healthy).

NOTES: Zachary Morin had three assists in this game to give him five helpers in his first three QMJHL games... Nate Tivey extended his assist streak to five games... this was Saint John's first road loss of the season... Saint John went 1/4 on the power play... Giuliano Caputo had four hits before being tossed from the game... Eriks Mateiko had five shots... it was "Thursday Night Football" theme night at Avenir Centre... attendance was 3,249... this Caleb Desnoyers goal will likely be on some highlight reels.

Smoooooth. https://t.co/9LKEXxXAOR pic.twitter.com/UU59Jy8XCk

— Moncton Wildcats (@monctonwildcats) October 17, 2024

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are in Bathurst tomorrow night to face the Titan at 7 p.m.