Recap: Sea Dogs lose 8-4

FINAL: Moncton 8, Saint John 4

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs ran out of gas on Friday night at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs allowed four goals on 14 shots in the third period, falling 8-4 to the Moncton Wildcats. The Sea Dogs were able to keep pace with Moncton through the first half of the game but it seemed like the 'Cats had an extra gear the Dogs just didn't have.

Saint John played on Thursday night while Moncton had been off since Wednesday.

The game was tied 3-3 after the first and 4-4 after the second. The Sea Dogs were perhaps a bit lucky to get out of the second with a tie after allowing 24 shots in the middle frame. The Wildcats blew it open in the third and finished the game with 53 shots – the most by any team in a single QMJHL game this season.

Niko Tournas and Kuzma Voronin each scored a pair of goals for Moncton while singles came from Grayden Robertson-Palmer, Teddy Mutryn, Tommy Bleyl and Gabe Smith. Rudy Guimond made 40 saves in the win.

Alexander Donovan, Egan Beveridge, Zachary Morin and Matthew Krayer all scored for Saint John. Justin Robinson was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Rafaël Courchesne, making an appearance for a fifth straight game, allowed four goals on 37 shots in relief.

The Sea Dogs just can't seem to get over .500, falling to 10-11-1-0 with this loss. They haven't been over the .500 mark since Oct. 30.

 

LINEUP

Fullerton - Groulx - Rozzi

Morin - Joseph - Donovan

Krayer - Dubé - Beaulieu

Gauthier - Beveridge

Vilen - Duhamel

Zubek - Baldwin

Croteau - Wasmer

Drabczynski

Robinson

Courchesne

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forward Olivers Murnieks (injured or sick) and William Yared (injured or sick) along with defensemen Cameron Chartrand (injured or sick).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs went with the same lineup as Thursday night, dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen. The only change was Justin Robinson getting the start over Rafaël Courchesne... Robinson made his first start since Nov. 7... it was Flames Night with the Sea Dogs wearing Saint John Flames styled jerseys. Former Flames anthem singer Dan Joyce performed Oh Canada... Egan Beveridge scored his first goal since Oct. 11... Zachary Morin has goals in three straight games... this was the second straight game the Sea Dogs scored three times in the first period... the Sea Dogs had a goal called off early in the third period and head coach Travis Crickard, who is typically fairly calm behind the bench, was not too pleased with the officials... the Wildcats had a goal called off later in the period due to goaltender interference... Moncton's 24 shots in that second period is tied for the most shots in a second period by any team this season. Moncton also had 24 on Oct. 17... Angelo Fullerton had seven shots... Vincent Croteau and Alexis Gauthier were the only Sea Dogs without shots on goal... Jacob Beaulieu had four hits... both teams went 1/3 on the power play... faceoffs were 38-28 in favour of Moncton... attendance was 3,030.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs take on the Charlottetown Islanders next Friday at 7 p.m. at TD Station.