Recap: Sea Dogs lose 7-3

FINAL: Halifax 7, Saint John 3

Michael Hawkins/Saint John Sea Dogs

SAINT JOHN - With two weeks to go until the regular season begins, the Saint John Sea Dogs have plenty to work on.

That was evident on Friday night at TD Station as the Sea Dogs struggled in a 7-3 pre-season loss to the Halifax Mooseheads. Both teams dressed close-to-final rosters.

Saint John especially struggled defensively, allowing the Mooseheads to score seven times on 26 shots. Several Halifax goals were one-time shots by a Moosehead that was left wide open.

On offense, the Sea Dogs were able to generate 42 shots on goal but couldn't find enough finish. Halifax goaltender Jack Fichthorn was excellent in the first half of game, making 21 stops before leaving late in the second period.

Malik L'Italien scored twice for Halifax while singles came from Quinn Kennedy, Nathan Langlois, Mateo Nobert, Oleg Kulebiakin and Shawn Carrier. Fichthorn allowed two goals while Carson Mertz allowed a goal on 19 shots.

Saint John had goals from Alexander Donovan, Zachary Morin and Oliver Ozogany. Samuel Meloche, in his first game of the pre-season, allowed seven goals on 26 shots.

LINEUP

Morin - Joseph - Glance

Rozzi - Groulx - Donovan

Ozogany - Cancik - Lemieux

Howard - Gauthier - Seymour

Delarosbil - Chartrand

Lanthier - Damphousse

Charbonneau - Dunlap

Williams

Meloche

Courchesne

SCRATCHES: Based on the most recent training camp roster, the Sea Dogs did not dress defensemen Oskar Drabczynski and Olivier Duhamel along with goaltender Jase MacPherson.

NOTES: Defensemen Brandon Delarosbil and Cameron Chartrand along with goaltender Samuel Meloche made their pre-season debuts... former Sea Dogs assistant coach Mark Lee, now a member of the Mooseheads' coaching staff, returned to TD Station... Halifax's Shawn Carrier had three assists in the first period... Mooseheads goaltender Jack Fichtorn left the game late in the second period after getting bumped into. He left the bench very briefly with Halifax's trainer but returned soon after.... Saint John used five forwards on their top power play unit: Zachary Morin, Olivier Groulx, Jamie Glance, Alexis Joseph and Alexander Donovan... Julien Lanthier had two assists... Donovan, Morin and Bo Damphousse each had five shots... Olivier Lemieux and Jabez Seymour each had three hits... Saint John is now 2-2-0-0 this pre-season... this was Saint John's first and only pre-season game at TD Station. Attendance was not announced... the Sea Dogs will play their regular season home opener on Friday, Sept. 25 against the Moncton Wildcats... you can rewatch the game on the Sea Dogs' YouTube channel.

NEXT GAME: The Sea Dogs and Mooseheads meet again next Friday at 7 p.m. at Dartmouth's RBC Centre.