Recap: Sea Dogs win 3-2

FINAL: Charlottetown 2, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - There were a few nervous moments near the end, but the Saint John Sea Dogs hung on for their fourth straight win on Saturday night at TD Station.

Nate Tivey, Eriks Mateiko and William Yared all scored to lift the Sea Dogs to a 3-2 win over the Charlottetown Islanders  – their first of the season on home ice. Goaltender Justin Robinson had a strong performance – especially in the final minute – in the victory.

The Sea Dogs led 2-0 after one on goals from Tivey and Mateiko. Yared scored early in the second but the goal was called back due to a high stick. Shortly after at 5:47, Yared would score a legal goal, giving Saint John a commanding 3-0 advantage.

Charlottetown started to gain some momentum midway through the second and were rewarded when Nathan Leek got the road side on the board at 16:09. Matthew Butler scored at 11:42 of the third to cut Saint John's lead to one – but that would be as close as Charlottetown would get.

Robinson made 28 saves in a first star performance. Donald Hickey made 24 saves in the loss.

Perhaps most impressive is that the Sea Dogs earned this win with some key regulars out of the lineup. Veterans Nicolas Bilodeau, Matteo Mann and Jacob Beaulieu were all listed as healthy scratches while Benjamin Amyot remains out with an injury.

After an 0-2 start to the year, the Sea Dogs are now 4-2-0-0. It's still extremely early, but this is a positive start for this young Saint John squad.

LINEUP

Peddle - Mateiko - Cross

Lominac - Groulx - Reynolds

Rozzi - Dubé - Yared

Calder - Schenk - Miller

Tivey - MacLean

Caputo - Duhamel

Bonnet - Scanzano

Robinson

Cyr-Dauphinais

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel (injury); defenseman Benjamin Amyot (injury), Matteo Mann (healthy) and Nicolas Bilodeau (healthy); and forwards Jacob Beaulieu (healthy) and Egan Beveridge (healthy).

NOTES: Goaltender Charles-Edward Gravel remained out of the lineup, meaning Cedric Cyr-Dauphinais served as Justin Robinson's backup for a second straight game... Coen Miller returned to the lineup after missing the past three games with an injury... Eriks Mateiko's goal was his first of the season... Nate Tivey continues his hot offensive start, posting a goal and an assist... Olivier Duhamel had six shots... Tyler Peddle had five shots and four hits... the Isles went 1/4 on the power play while the Sea Dogs went 0/2... attendance was 2,986.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs return to action tomorrow hosting the Acadie-Bathurst Titan at 3 p.m.