The Saint John Sea Dogs snapped a three-game losing skid by defeating the Moncton Wildcats – the Canadian Hockey League's top-ranked team – 6-2 on Thursday night at Avenir Centre. It's the second time in two weeks that Saint John beat Moncton after handing the Wildcats a 3-2 overtime loss on Halloween.
After a rough first period, the Sea Dogs rebounded in the second to take a 2-1 lead into the third. The Sea Dogs kept the momentum going in the final frame, delivering a strong road performance against a good team – but also a team that hasn't brought its best the last two times out against Saint John. Props to the Sea Dogs for taking advantage of that.
Eriks Mateiko scored a pair of goals for Saint John while singles came from Dylan Rozzi, Egan Beveridge, Olivier Duhamel and Elliot Dubé. Charles-Edward Gravel made 35 stops in the win.
Riley Sampson and Preston Lounsbury scored for Moncton. Jacob Steinman made 22 saves in the loss.
The Wildcats outshot the Sea Dogs 18-3 in the opening frame but only led 1-0. Sampson opened the scoring with his fourth of the year at 16:19, beating Gravel top corner with a quick wrist shot.
The Sea Dogs tied the game 1-1 just 1:47 into the second period when a low Mateiko shot fooled Steinman. Then at 9:27, just after a power play ended, Mateiko redirected a Tyler Peddle shot to suddenly give the Sea Dogs a 2-1 advantage.
Sampson was given a five minute major and game misconduct for a check to the head on Reid Calder at 10:30. Then at 11:11, Loke Johansson was called for cross checking to send the Sea Dogs to a full two-minute five-on-three advantage. Saint John was able to produce some strong offensive zone pressure but could not convert on the man advantage.
Shots ended 14-6 in favour of Saint John in the middle frame.
Just 2:47 into the third, Rozzi spun and fired from the slot, beating Steinman low to give Saint John a 3-1 lead.
Moncton got within one at 13:15 when Juraj Pekarcik found a wide open Lounsbury. But the Wildcats wouldn't get any closer.
With 1:47 remaining, an odd man rush led to an Olivier Groulx shot being stopped but Beveridge was there to put in the rebound, making it 4-2. Duhamel scored into an empty net at 19:37 and then Dubé made it a 6-2 final by scoring at 19:57.
LINEUP
Peddle - Mateiko - Cross
Morin - Groulx - Beveridge
Rozzi - Dubé - Yared
Calder - Miller - Beaulieu
Tivey - Duhamel
Bilodeau - Mann
MacLean - Amyot
Gravel
Robinson
SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without Forwards Florian Schenk (healthy) and Darien Reynolds (injury or sickness) along with defensemen Giuliano Caputo (healthy) and Cruz Scanzano (healthy).
NOTES: The Wildcats wore their black third jerseys... Charles-Edward Gravel wore his fresh blue and white equipment... Sea Dogs head coach Travis Crickard returned behind the bench after missing the past few games due to the U17 World Challenge... affiliate player Xavier Farrah was Moncton's backup with Keegan Warren listed as injured/sick... Eriks Mateiko now has three goals in three games against Moncton this season... Tyler Peddle had three assists... Peddle and Eagn Beveridge each had five shots... faceoffs were 36-20 in favour of Moncton... Saint John's power play woes continued, going 0/5... this was Saint John's first regulation time win since Oct. 18... attendance was 4,073.
HIGHLIGHTS
NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs travel to Bathurst on Saturday to face the Titan at 7 p.m.
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