Recap: Sea Dogs win 6-3

FINAL: Charlottetown 3, Saint John 6

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - The Saint John Sea Dogs bent but did not break in an upset win over one of the top teams in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League on Thursday at TD Station.

The Sea Dogs scored three times in both the first and third periods in a 6-3 victory over the Charlottetown Islanders. Olivier Groulx netted a pair of goals while Matthew Krayer, Jacob Beaulieu, Elliot Dubé and Zachary Morin added singles.

Rafaël Courchesne had another solid night in net, making 21 stops in the win.

The Sea Dogs never trailed in this game, opening the scoring and leading 3-1 at one point in the first period. The Islanders tied it up at 3-3 early in the third but, at 10:40, Morin scored what proved to be the game-winner. Groulx netted a pair of empty net goals to secure the victory.

The victory certainly displays some of the progress this group has made over the past year. Even when the Islanders tied it up and started to take some momentum back, the Sea Dogs didn't fold. While this first half has had some bumps along the way, there are some positive signs here.

The win pushed the Sea Dogs back to .500 with a 10-10-1-0 record.

Charlottetown goals came from Anthony Flanagan, Ross Campbell and Matthew Butler. Donald Hickey made 20 stops in the loss.

LINEUP

Fullerton - Groulx - Rozzi

Morin - Joseph - Donovan

Dubé - Beaulieu

Krayer - Gauthier - Beveridge

Vilen - Duhamel

Zubek - Baldwin

Croteau - Wasmer

Drabczynski

Courchesne

Robinson

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: Saint John dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen with William Yared being the final scratch... Olivier Duhamel returned to the Saint John lineup, playing his first game since Nov. 6 when he took a hit to the head... goaltender Rafaël Courchesne made a fourth straight start... Courchesne debuted a new Sea Dogs styled mask... with a goal and an assist, Jacob Beaulieu has two goals and an assist in his past three games... Matthew Krayer had a goal and an assist... Krayer and Patryk Zubek each had four shots... Beaulieu had six hits... faceoffs were 37-23 in favour of Saint John... Courchesne had an assist on Olivier Groulx's second empty net goal... the Islanders have weirdly only scored first in seven games this season, an oddity for a team with 13 wins... Charlottetown's Dylan MacKinnon played in his 250th career QMJHL game... attendance was 2,644.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs are right back in action tomorrow night, hosting the Moncton Wildcats at 7 p.m.