Recap: Sea Dogs win 5-2

FINAL: Saint John 5, Halifax 2

Trevor MacMillan/Halifax Mooseheads

HALIFAX - The Brian Casey coaching era got off to an impressive start on Friday.

The Saint John Sea Dogs had a dominant first period, outshooting the Halifax Mooseheads 22-3 and scoring twice en route to a 5-2 win at Scotiabank Centre.

Saint John added two more in the second period and could have had a few more in the third if not for the play of Halifax netminder Owen Bresson.

The Mooseheads were able to make a game of it in the third, getting within two at 11:51. But a Dylan Rozzi goal with 5:48 remaining gave Saint John some insurance and ended Halifax's momentum. 

The Mooseheads aren't exactly an elite team this season, but still, this was an impressive showing for Saint John following Thursday's coaching change. Now we'll see what they can do against a stronger Charlottetown Islanders team on Saturday.

The Sea Dogs were playing without forwards Alexis Joseph, William Yared and Olivers Murnieks and had to use defenseman Vincent Croteau as a fourth line forward – which makes this result all the more impressive. The big guns who were dressed produced with Alexander Donovan scoring twice and posting an assist; Rozzi, Zachary Morin and Maxime Côté added singles; and Olivier Groulx had three assists.

Arseni Radkov made 28 saves in the win.

Oleg Kulebiakin and Quinn Kennedy scored for Halifax. Bresson made 37 saves in the loss.

LINEUP

Rozzi - Groulx - Donovan

Fullerton - Seymour - Morin

Krayer - Côté - Gauthier

Héroux - Croteau

Damphousse - Duhamel

Wasmer - Chartrand

Magnusson - Baldwin

Drabczynski

Radkov

Courchesne

SCRATCHES: The Sea Dogs were without forwards Alexis Joseph (injury), William Yared (injury) and Olivers Murnieks (injury).

NOTES: The Sea Dogs had to go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen with three forwards injured... defenseman Vincent Croteau was used as a fourth line winger... with two goals in this game, Alexander Donovan is now Saint John's goal scoring leader with 23, surpassing Alexis Joseph... Donovan has goals in three straight games and in four of his past five... Zachary Morin scored his first goal since Jan. 31... Olivier Groulx had three assists, which is a career high... the Mooseheads scored 2:56 into the third period but the goal was called back due to an offside... Everett Baldwin and Oskar Drabczynski each had two assists... Saint John had a rough night in the faceoff circle. Faceoffs were 38-21 Halifax... the Mooseheads visit Saint John March 13-14... attendance was 8,729.

HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs host the Charlottetown Islanders tomorrow at 7 p.m. at TD Station.