Recap: Sea Dogs lose 5-4

FINAL: Baie-Comeau 5, Saint John 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Baie-Comeau Drakkar are heading home with a win.

After falling in Bathurst on Thursday and Charlottetown on Friday, the Drakkar are returning home with two points thanks to a come-from-behind 5-4 win over the Saint John Sea Dogs on Saturday at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs were looking good in the second period, leading 4-1 – but a Drakkar goal with 12.6 seconds remaining in the middle frame was a sign of things to come. Baie-Comeau scored three times in the first 9:15 of the third to grab a 5-4 lead and never looked back.

Shots ended 15-6 in favour of the Drakkar in the third period. The wheels really fell off the Sea Dogs in the final frame – a common trait of a rebuilding club like Saint John, and one that has been seen several times this season.

The Sea Dogs have now dropped six straight games.

Justin Poirier and Samuel Boisvert each scored twice for Baie-Comeau while Louis-Charles Plourde added a single. Mathys Routhier allowed three goals on 14 shots before getting pulled early in the second period. Lucas Beckman allowed a goal on 13 shots in relief.

Zachary Morin, Nicolas Bilodeau, Benjamin Amyot and Reid Calder all scored for Saint John. Justin Robinson, who made some big stops in this one, allowed five goals on 38 shots in the loss.

Poirier put the Drakkar up 1-0 at 12:28 of the first period when he ripped a shot through an outstretched Robinson. The two teams would head to the dressing room tied 1-1 thanks to a late goal from Morin, who seemed to fool Routhier with a shot upstairs with 41 seconds remaining in the frame.

Bilodeau put the Sea Dogs up 2-1 just 33 seconds into the second, skating down low to the goal line and beating Routhier upstairs from a sharpe angle. The goal was reviewed but remained a good goal.

The scoring from the backend continued at 4:36 when Amyot fired a shot from the top of the circle that beat Routhier. That would end the Drakkar netminder's night in net, getting replaced by Beckman.

Calder made it 4-1 at 17:36, redirecting an Elliot Dubé shot. The Drakkar cut the deficit to two with 12.6 seconds remaining when Boivert danced around Amyot and beat Robinson with a backhand shot, sending the teams to the room with Saint John up 4-2.

The Drakkar got within one just 55 seconds into the third when Boisvert netted his second straight goal. Then at 7:09, Poirier carried the puck into the zone and fired a shot from the top of the circle past Robinson to tie things at 4-4.

Baie-Comeau's power play went to work at 8:58 when Matthew MacLean was called for interference. On that man advantage, Plourde finished off a lovely passing play to quickly put the Drakkar up 5-4 at 9:15. Saint John used their timeout following that goal to try and regroup after allowing four goals in a span of 9:28.

Saint John went to the power play at 15:22 when Hampton native Evan Bellamy was called for interference. But the Sea Dogs couldn't get much going on the man advantage or later in the period when they pulled Robinson in favour of an extra attacker.

LINEUP

Morin - Groulx - Peddle

Rozzi - Dubé - Yared

M. Krayer - Beveridge - Cross

Calder - Wagner

Tivey - Amyot

Bilodeau - Mann

Lumsden - MacLean

Bonnet

Robinson

Young

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Jacob Beaulieu (serving the fourth game of a four-game suspension), Dylan Krayer (injury) and Darien Reynolds (injury) along with defensemen Olivier Duhamel (injury).

NEW LOOK: For the first time, the Sea Dogs wore a fan designed jersey, which was part of the Real Atlantic Superstore jersey design contest. This is the first year Maritimes Division QMJHL teams have taken part in the promotion.

A first ever @RealAtlanticSS #CHLJerseyContest game for the @SJSeaDogs!

📺💻📱 https://t.co/E0Cl58TGe2 | #CHLTV pic.twitter.com/9JPmtx7CAo

— Canadian Hockey League (@CHLHockey) February 8, 2025

NOTES: This was the first meeting of the season between the Sea Dogs and Drakkar... Saint John once again went with 11 forwards and seven defensemen... with two goals and an assist in this game, Justin Poirier now has six goals and four assists in five career games against his brother's former team... the Sea Dogs have allowed the first goal in seven straight games... Zachary Morin's goal was his team-leading 14th of the season... Benjamin Amyot's goal was just his second of the season... a bit surprising to see Lucas Beckman enter the game so early after playing full games for the Drakkar on both Thursday and Friday... Reid Calder has goals in three of his past four games... faceoffs ended 46-22 in favour of the Drakkar... Elliot Dubé had two assists... Morin had six shots... the Drakkar went 1/2 on the power play while the Sea Dogs went 0/5... attendance was 3,561, the third largest home crowd of the season.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are back home next Saturday when they face the Shawinigan Cataractes at 3 p.m.